hermit

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship.

   Solitary the thrush, / The hermit withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements, / Sings by himself a song.

2. 2
   noun

   A hermit crab.

   Because hermits are decapods and do not live within their own shells, they are not considered to be true crabs.

3. 3
   noun

   one who lives in solitude

4. 4
   noun

   one retired from society for religious reasons

5. 5
   noun

   A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.

6. 6
   noun

   A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.

7. 7
   noun

   Any in the subfamily Phaethornithinae of hummingbirds.

Etymology

From Middle English hermite, heremite, eremite, from Old French eremite, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin eremita, from Ancient Greek ἐρημίτης (erēmítēs, “person of the desert”) from ἐρημία (erēmía, “desert, solitude”), from ἔρημος (érēmos) or ἐρῆμος (erêmos, “uninhabited”) plus -ίτης (-ítēs, “one connected to, a member of”). Doublet of eremite. Displaced native Old English ānsetla.