rosary

Noun

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. (broadly) A series or collection of thoughts, literary pieces, etc. intended for similar contemplation.
   • Every day propound to yourself a rosary or a chaplet of good works, to present to God at night.1655, “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....
4. (historical) 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.
   • "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...1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados