Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rosary

Ro′sa·ry (rō′zȧ·ry̆), n.; pl. Rosaries (#). [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See Rose.] 1. A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. "Thick rosaries of scented thorn." Tennyson.

2. (R.C.Ch.) 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.

His idolized book, and the whole rosary of his prayers. Milton.

☞ A rosary consists of fifteen decades. Each decade contains ten Ave Marias marked by small beads, preceded by a Paternoster, marked by a larger bead, and concluded by a Gloria Patri. Five decades make a chaplet, a third part of the rosary. Bp. Fitzpatrick.

3. A chapelet; a garland; a series or collection, as of beautiful thoughts or of literary selections.

Every day propound to yourself a rosary or chaplet of good works to present to God at night. Jer. Taylor.

4. A coin bearing the figure of a rose, fraudulently circulated in Ireland in the 13th century for a penny.

Rosary shell (Zoöl.), any marine gastropod shell of the genus Monodonta. They are top-shaped, bright-colored and pearly.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.