CHAPLET, a string of beads used by the Roman Catholics, to count the number of their prayers. The invention of it is ascribed to Peter the hermit, who probably learned it of the Turks, as they owe it to the East-Indians.
Chaplets are sometimes called pater-nosters, and are made of coral, of diamonds, of wood, &c. The common chaplet contains fifty ave-marias, and five pater-nosters. There is also a chaplet of our Saviour, consisting of thirty-three beads, in honour of his thirty-three years living on earth, instituted by father Michael the Camaldulian.