Definition of rosary

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ro·sa·ry    (rz-r) KEY 

NOUN:
pl. ro·sa·ries

1. Roman Catholic Church
   1. 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.
   2. One of these sets of decades.
   3. A string of beads of 5 or 15 decades on which these prayers are counted.
2. Similar beads used by other religious groups.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, rose garden, from Medieval Latin rosrium, rose garden, rosary, from Latin, rose garden, from neuter of rosrius, of roses, from rosa, rose