rosary

plural rosaries · alternative Rosary

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. broadlyA 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. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume XV, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, section I, page 32

4. historicalhobbiesA 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.

   1 more example

   "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 possible." For five minutes Bellmark made trials with a pointed iron. Then he cleared away the soil of a small circle and at about a foot deep exposed a broken inch pipe.

   1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados