CELL signifies also a little apartment or chamber, such as those wherein the ancient monks, solitaries, and hermits, lived in retirement. Some derive the word from the Hebrew ḥḥ, i. e. "a prison, or place where any thing is shut up."
The same name is still retained in divers monasteries. The dormitory is frequently divided into so many cells or loges. The Carthusians have each a separate house, which serves them as a cell. The hall wherein the Roman conclave is held, is divided, by partitions, into divers cells, for the several cardinals to lodge in.