Also lamasary, lamaserai, lamassery, lamastery, lamestery. [a. F. lamaserie, app. formed irreg. by Huc from lama: see LAMA1.
The spelling lamaserai indicates that the word has been supposed to be a compound of Pers. sarāī inn (see SERAI).]
A Thibetan or Mongolian monastery of lamas.
1852. W. Hazlitt, trans. Huc’s Tartary, I. 36. During our stay at Tolon-Noor, we had frequent occasion to visit the Lamaseries, or Lama monasteries, and to converse with the idolatrous priests of Buddhism.
1870. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Nov., 11. I was for seven years steward of the grand lamasary of Ga-den.
1882. Baber, in R. Geog. Soc. Suppl. Papers, I. I. 96. It contains many lamaserais of 200 or 300 monks, some indeed of 2000 or 3000.
