An"cho*ret (#), An"cho*rite (#), n. [F. anachorete, L. anachoreta, fr. Gr. , fr. to go back, retire; + to give place, retire, place; perh. akin to Skr. ha to leave. Cf. Anchor a hermit.]
One who renounces the world and secludes himself, usually for religious reasons; a hermit; a recluse.
[Written by some authors
anachoret.]
Our Savior himself . . . did not choose an anchorite's or a monastic life, but a social and affable way of conversing with mortals.
Boyle.
© Webster 1913.