frater

¹ American  

[frey-ter] / ˈfreɪ tər /

noun

1. a brother, as in a religious or fraternal order; comrade.

2. a member of a college or university fraternity.

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frater ² American  

[frey-ter] / ˈfreɪ tər /

noun

Ecclesiastical History Obsolete.

1. the refectory of a religious house.

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frater ¹ British  

/ ˈfreɪtə /

noun

1. a mendicant friar or a lay brother in a monastery or priory

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frater ² British  

/ ˈfreɪtə /

noun

1. archaic a refectory

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Etymology

Origin of frater¹

1555–65; < Latin frāter brother

Origin of frater²

1250–1300; Middle English frater, freitour < Old French fraitur, short for refreitor < Late Latin rēfectōrium refectory

Example Sentences

The club members called themselves "friars" after the Latin word for brother, "frater."

From Seattle Times • Oct. 24, 2011

Reluctantly, the Trib shot down the sherif and later sank the frater.

From Time Magazine Archive

The word has been confused with frater, a brother or friar, and hence sometimes confined in meaning to the dining-hall of a friary, while “refectory” is used of a monastery.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 1 "Franciscans" to "French Language" by Various

Quod si forsan vos filii inquisitores, his nolueritis, aut non potueritis, aut non curaveritis interesse, tu frater episcope, solus per te vel per alium seu alios in negotio eodem procedas, juxta litterarum continentiam earumdem.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Lea, Henry Charles

In his est venerabilis frater Edmundus Episcopus Corcagiensis qui a Nobis discedit ut in patriam revertatur.

From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, April 1865 by Various