Mōnk, n.

(mŭŋk), n. [A-S. monec, monc, munuc, munee, munc, Dan. & Sw. munk, Icel. munkr, O. H. Ger. munich, M. H. Ger. münich, mün(ech, N. H. Ger. mönch, from Lat. monachus, Gr. μοναχός, from μόνος, alone, whence, also, It. monaco, Sp. & Pg. monje, Pr. monge, moine, O. Fr. moigne, N. Fr. moine.]

1Sense 1. A man who retires from the ordinary temporal concerns of the world, and devotes himself to religion; one of a religious community inhabiting a monastery, and bound by vows to a life of celibacy and religious exercises.

2Sense 2. (Print.) A blotch or spot of ink on a printed page; especially a blotted and indistinct impression from types which have received too much ink;—distinguished from a friar, or white spot caused by a deficiency of ink.

Its pages, mostly fair and legible, are sadly deformed in many places by those smudges of printer’s ink which transform a letter into what printers call a “monk.” N. Y. Independent.