Virgin Mary
Preserved but no longer current.
In the Roman Catholic Church the phrase is applied to an invocation to the Virgin beginning with those words; and also to the smaller beads of a rosary, the larger ones being termed pater- nosters.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Virgin Mary” mean?
In the Roman Catholic Church the phrase is applied to an invocation to the Virgin beginning with those words; and also to the smaller beads of a rosary, the larger ones being termed pater- nosters.
Is “Virgin Mary” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.