refectory

What is the purpose of a room called a refectory?

From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2023

The painting, in oil on canvas, was commissioned by her own convent of Santa Caterina; once completed, it was hung on the nuns’ refectory wall.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2019

Another Jesuit, Father Michael O'Sullivan, met him briefly in the refectory one evening during that visit.

From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2018

Meals from the refectory can be arranged on a donation basis.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2018

A wine cellar was carved out below, and a modest refectory vaulted above it.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Designers are conjuring all kinds of nonkitchen-y arenas, like the refectories of old boarding schools, a signature of Christopher Peacock, the English-born kitchen designer once known for his all-white offerings.

From New York Times ● Oct. 2, 2017

The market-place and the neighbourhood of the town-hall were turned into vast open-air refectories.

From The Fortune of the Rougons by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly

The cathedral library, formerly the dormitory and refectories of the abbey, contains a number of curious and interesting printed books and MSS., and the portable altar, vestments and other relics found in St Cuthbert’s grave.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 8 "Dubner" to "Dyeing" by Various

The other objects most worthy of notice in this spacious, building, which, together with its precincts, occupies seventeen arpens, are the refectories and kitchens, which are very extensive.

From Paris as It Was and as It Is by Francis W. Blagdon

Heretical writings continued to find entrance into many of the religious houses, and were even read aloud in refectories, and used as text-books by the professors.

From Studies from Court and Cloister: being essays, historical and literary dealing mainly with subjects relating to the XVIth and XVIIth centuries by J. M. (Jean Mary) Stone