Definition of "rosary" []

• Roman Catholic Church A form of devotion to the Virgin Mary, chiefly consisting of three sets of five decades each of the Hail Mary, each decade preceded by the Lord's Prayer and ending with a doxology. (noun)
• Roman Catholic Church One of these sets of decades. (noun)
• Roman Catholic Church A string of beads of 5 or 15 decades on which these prayers are counted. (noun)
• Similar beads used by other religious groups. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Like the Sanskrit _mala_, the English word rosary at first meant a garland of roses and subsequently a string of beads, probably made from rose-wood, on which prayers were counted."
• "The rosary is a Biblical prayer method in which you meditate on events during the life of Jesus Christ while reciting certain commonly-known prayers --- two of which, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, are quotations from the Bible."
• "The rosary is a devotion that grew up and developed over time until it reached its current standard form."