rosary
- Roman Catholic Church.
- a series of prayers, usually consisting of 15 decades of aves, each decade being preceded by a paternoster and followed by a Gloria Patri, one of the mysteries or events in the life of Christ or the Virgin Mary being recalled at each decade.
- a string of beads used for counting these prayers during their recitation.
- a similar string of beads consisting of five decades.
- (among other religious bodies) a string of beads similarly used in praying.
- a rose garden or a bed of roses.
Origin of rosary
Examples from the Web for rosary
Contemporary Examples
On Wednesday mornings before mass, he recites the rosary in a special prayer of liberation from the chains of the devil.
The parishioners began saying the Rosary as a call went in to 911.
The faithful were still saying the Rosary when the officers informed them that they had to leave.
Stigler pressed his hand over the rosary he kept in his flight jacket.
Maradona spent much of the game frantically gesticulating and clutching his rosary.
Historical Examples
And he went straight to the Rosary, as though he were determined to conquer death.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
Those who may be unable to come ought at least to say their Rosary at home.'
Abbe Mouret's TransgressionEmile Zola
For hours the beads of his Rosary would glide between his fingers.
Abbe Mouret's TransgressionEmile Zola
Her bony fingers were loaded with loose rings, and a rosary hung at her wrist.
The Eternal CityHall Caine
Say a rosary for the Blessed Virgin every morning before breaking your fast.
The Woman Thou Gavest MeHall Caine
rosary
- RC Church
- a series of prayers counted on a string of beads, usually consisting of five or 15 decades of Aves, each decade beginning with a Paternoster and ending with a Gloria
- a string of 55 or 165 beads used to count these prayers as they are recited
- (in other religions) a similar string of beads used in praying
- a bed or garden of roses
- an archaic word for garland (def. 1)
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for rosary
n.
"rose garden," mid-15c., from Latin rosarium "rose garden," in Medieval Latin also "garland; string of beads; series of prayers," from noun use of neuter of rosarius "of roses," from rosa "rose" (see rose (n.1)).
The sense of "series of prayers" is 1540s, from Middle French rosaire, a figurative use of the word meaning "rose garden," on the notion of a "garden" of prayers. This probably embodies the medieval conceit of comparing collections to bouquets (cf. anthology and Medieval Latin hortulus animae "prayerbook," literally "little garden of the soul"). Sense transferred 1590s to the strings of beads used as a memory aid in reciting the rosary.
rosary
(rō′zə-rē)- An arrangement or structure that is beadlike in appearance.
rosary
A set of prayers common in the Roman Catholic Church, said during meditation on events in the lives of Jesus and of Mary, the mother of Jesus. A rosary is also the string of beads that the worshiper uses to count the prayers.