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Prayer beads

noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A string of beads used by members of various religions to count prayers, chants, or devotions. plural, plural-normally

    "Suits didn't wear suits any more—they wore Tibetan prayer beads coiled around their wrists. But they slithered in a suitlike way."

  2. 2
    a string of beads used in counting prayers (especially by Catholics) wordnet

Etymology

An interesting example of a compound that is diachronically pleonastic, although not synchronically so; the head by itself originally meant the relevant meaning (see bead), but as the head's meaning broadened by extension, the compound then became necessary to specify the relevant meaning by narrowing down.

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