prayer beads

[ prair ]

plural noun
  1. a rosary.

Origin of prayer beads

1
First recorded in 1620–30

Words Nearby prayer beads

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use prayer beads in a sentence

  • Asked if the rebels shot any other unarmed prisoners, he nods and vigorously rubs a set of silver prayer beads.

    Gaddafi's Unwilling Army | Babak Dehghanpisheh | August 29, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Kneeling before a plaster cast of the Virgin, with a string of bone prayer-beads in her hands, was another aged woman.

    A Lover in Homespun | F. Clifford Smith
  • For a long time she sat with closed eyes, her little ivory prayer-beads in her hands.

    A Lover in Homespun | F. Clifford Smith
  • Baptiste, prayer-beads in hand, knelt by his son's side, saying prayers for the dying.

    A Lover in Homespun | F. Clifford Smith
  • To you I give the prayer beads––it is good to give them to you.

    The Flute of the Gods | Marah Ellis Ryan
  • Already she had been to see Jeanne Soubise, in the curiosity-shop, and had bought a string of amber prayer-beads.

    The Golden Silence | C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

British Dictionary definitions for prayer beads

prayer beads

/ (prɛə) /


pl n
  1. RC Church the beads of the rosary

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012