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rosary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Rosary beads

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English rosarie, from Latin rosārium, here in its sense as a garland of roses. The coin usage referred to the laurel wreath appearing on the obverse bust, as opposed to the bare head on the pollard. Doublet of Rosario and rosarium.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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rosary (plural rosaries)

  1. Prayer beads, a string of beads used to keep track of repetitions in prayer, particularly of the Roman Catholic Marian prayer "Hail Mary" (Ave Maria).
  2. A Roman Catholic devotion involving the repetition of a series of Marian prayers, usually 5, 15, or 20 decades of "Hail Marys", each decade beginning with "Our Father" and ending with "Glory Be to the Father", but sometimes including other Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Lutheran prayers.
  3. (by extension) A series or collection of thoughts, literary pieces, etc. intended for similar contemplation.
    • 1655, Jeremy Taylor, “The Golden Grove; or, A Manual of Daily Prayers and Litanies, Fitted to the Days of the Week. […]: Agenda; or, Things to Be Done”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume XV, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, section I, page 32:
      Every day propound to yourself a rosary or a chaplet of good works, to present to God at night.
  4. (historical, numismatics) A 13th-century coin minted in Europe as a counterfeit debased form of the sterling silver penny of Edward I, at first accepted as a halfpenny and then outlawed.
  5. A rose garden.
    • 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
      "My rosary!" sighed Elsie, with premonition of disaster, when she had determined the spot as exactly as she could. "Oh, Mr Carrados!"
      "I am sorry, but it might be worse," said Carrados inflexibly. "We only require to find the elbow-joint. Mr Bellmark will investigate with as little disturbance as possible."
      For five minutes Bellmark made trials with a pointed iron. Then he cleared away the soil of a small circle and at about a foot deep exposed a broken inch pipe.

Hyponyms

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  • psalter (150-bead rosary for use with the Psalms)

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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