take vows

take vows

1. (Christianity) To become an officially inducted member of a religious order, such as an order of priests, nuns, or monks.
   • 1903, Harold MacGrath, chapter 34, in The Grey Cloak:

     And this was the hour Brother Jacques had planned and waited for! For this moment he had donned the robes, isolated himself, taken vows, suffered physical tortures!

   • 1919, Willa Cather, "Scandal":

     "Even painters . . . try to make all women look like some wife or mistress. You are all the same; you never see our real faces. . . . I'd rather take vows and veil my face for ever from such abominable eyes."

   • 2001 Dec. 30, Michelle O'Donnell, "The Life Serene," New York Times (retrieved 26 Nov 2012):

     A cloister is the part of the monastery that only those who have taken vows may enter.

• vow of celibacy
• vow of chastity
• vow of poverty
• vow of silence

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