refectory

Via Middle English refectori from Late Latin refectorium, from Latin reficere (“to remake, to rebuild”).

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfɛkt(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (Southern England)

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refectory (plural refectories)

1. A dining hall, especially in an institution such as a college or monastery.
   • 1964 April, “Letters: London stations—a consumers' guide”, in Modern Railways, page 274:

     They compare very well with similar cafes elsewhere and the quality, for example, is far better and the price cheaper than in my college refectory.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     With a clattering of chairs, upended shell cases, benches, and ottomans, Pirate's mob gather at the shores of the great refectory table, a southern island well across a tropic or two from chill Croydon.

• refectory table

• refection