See Also: rosary(medicine)
rosary(dictionary)
rosary pea(encyclopedia)
rosary(encyclopedia)
rosary(dictionary)
rachitic rosary(medicine)
Holy Rosary Medical Center(health)
HOLY ROSARY CHURCH Credit Union(finance)
HOLY ROSARY PARISH Credit Union(finance)

rosary (iou)



rosary noun. ME.
[Latin rosarium rose-garden, Anglo-Latin rosarius (sc. nummus penny), uses as noun of neut. and masc. of adjective from rosa ROSE noun: see -ARY1.]
A customary rent. rare. Only in ME.
Hist. A counterfeit penny of foreign origin, current during the 13th cent. and declared illegal by Edward I. LME.
A piece of ground set apart for the cultivation of roses; a rose-garden. Formerly also, a rose bush. LME.
Roman Catholic Church. A form of devotion accompanying the contemplation of fifteen mysteries (now usu. in groups of five), in which fifteen decades of Hail Marys are recited, each decade preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be; a book containing this devotion. E16.
a. Roman Catholic Church. A string of 165 beads divided into fifteen sets (each having ten small and one large bead), used for keeping count in the recital of this or a similar devotion; now esp. a similar set of 55 beads (also more fully the lesser rosary). L16.
b. A string of beads or knotted cord used similarly in other religious traditions. M19.
Comb. & phrases: rickety rosary: see RICKETY 1b; rosary pea (a seed of) the jequirity, Abrus precatorius; Rosary-Sunday Roman Catholic Church the first Sunday in October, when the victory over the Turks in 1571 is sometimes celebrated.