Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rosary

Rosary , noun

[Late Latin rosarium a string of beads, Latin rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: compare French rosaire. See Rose.]

1.
A bed of roses, or place where roses grow.
Thick rosaries of scented thorn. — Tennyson
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.

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.
A coin bearing the figure of a rose, fraudulently circulated in Ireland in the 13th century for a penny.
Collocations (1)
Rosary shell (Zoology) , any marine gastropod shell of the genus Monodonta. They are top-shaped, bright-colored and pearly.