PRIMERS
Noun
primers
plural of primer
Source: Wiktionary
PRIMER
Prim"er, n.
Definition: One who, or that which, primes; specifically, an instrument or
device for priming; esp., a cap, tube, or water containing percussion
powder or other capable for igniting a charge of gunpowder.
Prim"er, a. Etym: [OF. primer, primier, premier, F. premier. See
Premier.]
Definition: First; original; primary. [Obs.] "The primer English kings."
Drayton. Primer fine (O. Eng. Law), a fine due to the king on the
writ or commencement of a suit by fine. Blackstone.
– Primer seizin (Feudal Law), the right of the king, when a tenant
in capite died seized of a knight's fee, to receive of the heir, if
of full age, one year's profits of the land if in possession, and
half a year's profits if the land was in reversion expectant on an
estate for life; -- now abolished. Blackstone.
Prim"er, n. Etym: [Originally, the book read at prime, the first
canonical hour. LL. primae liber. See Prime, n., 4.]
1. Originally, a small prayer book for church service, containing the
little office of the Virgin Mary; also, a work of elementary
religious instruction.
The primer, or office of the Blessed Virgin. Bp. Stillingfleet.
2. A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a reading
or spelling book for a beginner.
As he sat in the school at his prymer. Chaucer.
3. (Print.)
Definition: A kind of type, of which there are two species; one, called
long primer, intermediate in size between bourgeois and small pica
[see Long primer]; the other, called great primer, larger than pica.
Note: Great primer type.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition