— hermitic, hermitical, hermitish , adj. — hermitically , adv. — hermitlike , adj. — hermitry, hermitship , n.
/herr"mit/ , n.
1. a person who has withdrawn to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.
2. any person living in seclusion; recluse.
3. Zool. an animal of solitary habits.
4. Ornith. any of numerous hummingbirds of the genera Glaucis and Phaethornis, having curved bills and dull-colored rather than iridescent plumage.
5. a spiced molasses cookie often containing raisins or nuts.
6. Obs. a beadsman.
[ 1175-1225; ME ermite, hermite, heremite eremita eremités living in a desert, equiv. to erém ( ia ) desert (deriv. of erêmos desolate) + -ites -ITE 1 ]
Syn. 1. eremite, monastic, anchorite, cenobite.