ROSARY

Possibly from the Chaldean word ro, meaning "thought"; and, shareh, "director"; a "thought-director". [MEXICO] Sacred instrument among ancient Mexicans according to Humbolt. [HINDUISM] Commonly used by Brahmins of Hindustan. Often referred to in Hindo sacred books. (Example "On hearing of this event Shiva fainted from grief, the, having recovered he hastened to the banks of the river of heaven, where he beheld lying the body of his beloved Sati, arrayed in white garments, holding a rosary in her hand, and glowing with splendour, bright as burnished gold." -Vaivashi Puran, Kennedy, p.332.) [Thibet] Use dates back to before remembered history. [Buddism] In China, rosary of 108 beads are a part of the ceremonial dress of the Lamas. The laity sometimes wear a small rosary of eighteen beads from the wrist, perfumed with musk. [Asiatic Greece} the rosary was commonly used (e.g. the image of The Ephesian Diana.) [Pagan Rome] Necklaces worn by the Roman ladies called "Monile," meaning a "remembrancer." See: Sacred Heart

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rosary. Rosary, n. a set of beads containing 15 paternosters and 15 ave-maries, mass, devotion

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Ro″sa‐ry (?), 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. 1. A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. “Thick rosaries of scented thorn.” Tennyson.
2. 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. 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. 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.