rosary
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rosary /ˈrəʊz(ə)ri/
▶noun (pl. rosaries)
- 1 (in the Roman Catholic Church) a form of devotion in which five (or fifteen) decades of Hail Marys are repeated, each decade preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be.
- 2 a string of beads for keeping count in such a devotion or in the devotions of some other religions.
– origin ME (in the sense ‘rose garden’): from L. rosarium ‘rose garden’, based on rosa ‘rose’.
'rosary' also found in these Oxford entries:
