Crutched friar (Eccl.), one of a religious order, so called because its members bore the sign of the cross on their staves and habits; called also crossed friar and crouched friar.
... and good order about all; and the church, fair and graceful, seemed well to complete and rule the institution. Esclairmonde could but sigh with a sort of regret as she left it, and let herself be conducted by Sir Richard Whittington to a refection at his beautiful house in Crutched Friars, built round a square, combining warehouse and manor-house; richly-carved shields, with the arms of the companies of London, supporting the tier of first-floor windows, and another row of brackets above supporting another overhanging ... — The Caged Lion • Charlotte M. Yonge
... hand, which was the DUBLIN EVENING, and ran for the bare life—for there wasn't a coach—in my slippers, as I was, to get into the prior creditor's shoes, who is the little solicitor that lives in Crutched Friars, which Mordicai never dreamt of, luckily; so he was very genteel, though he was taken on a sudden, and from his breakfast, which an Englishman don't like particularly—I popped him a douceur of a draught, at thirty-one days, on Garraghty, the agent; of which he must get notice; but ... — The Absentee • Maria Edgeworth