Definition of "paternoster" in English

noun

1. (Christianity) The Lord's Prayer, especially in a Roman Catholic context.

2. A slow, continuously moving lift or elevator consisting of a loop of open-fronted cabins running the height of a building.

3. (architecture, millwork) A bead-like ornament in mouldings.

4. (fishing) A tackle rig with a heavy sinker at the end of the line, and one or more hooks on traces at right angles spaced above the sinker.

5. (Christianity, archaic) A string of beads used in counting prayers that are said.

6. (Christianity, archaic) Every eleventh bead in a rosary, at which, while counting the beads, the Lord's Prayer is to be repeated.

   • Holonyms: rosary; prayer beads

7. (Christianity, archaic) A medieval artisan who crafted rosary beads or prayer nuts.

8. (archaic) A patent medicine, so named because salesmen would pray the Lord's Prayer over it before selling it.

   • Near-synonyms: nostrum, nostrum remedium

verb

1. (fishing, transitive) To try to catch (fish, etc.) with a paternoster rig.