[hur-mit] 
| 1. | a person who has withdrawn to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion. |
| 2. | any person living in seclusion; recluse. |
| 3. | Zoology. an animal of solitary habits. |
| 4. | Ornithology. 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. | Obsolete. a beadsman. |
s living in a desert, equiv. to erm(ia) desert (deriv. of erêmos desolate) + -ītēs -ite 1 
| her·mit (hûr'mĭt) n.
[Middle English heremite, from Old French, from Medieval Latin herēmīta, from Late Latin erēmīta, from Greek erēmītēs, from erēmiā, desert, from erēmos, solitary.] her·mit'ic, her·mit'i·cal adj., her·mit'i·cal·ly adv. |