rosary
/ˈɹoʊzəɹi/ noun
Forms rosaries
- noun 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).
- noun 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.
- noun (by extension) A series or collection of thoughts, literary pieces, etc. intended for similar contemplation.
- noun (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.
- noun A rose garden.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. "Thick rosaries of scented thorn." Tennyson.
- noun A series of prayers (see Note below) arranged to be recited in order, on beads; also, a string of beads by which the prayers are counted.
Etymology [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See Rose.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “rosary”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details