PRIMER • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Primer

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/prˈaɪmər/ Listen

noun

Primer n. One who, or that which, primes; specifically, An instrument or device for priming; esp., a cap, tube, or water containing percussion powder or other compound for igniting a charge of gunpowder.

Primer n.

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."

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."

(Print.) 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.

adjective

Primer adj. First; original; primary. (Obs.) "The primer English kings."

Primer fine (O. Eng. Law), a fine due to the king on the writ or commencement of a suit by fine.

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.

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Etymology of 'Primer'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Primer" Quotes from Famous Books

... the fact," said Bristow in a quiet, calculating way, trying to keep in his mind all the other peculiar circumstances surrounding this crime. "From the way we've put it, the thing reads as plainly as a primer. Now, what are we to do? Even now, we haven't the proof ...

— The Winning Clue • James Hay, Jr.

... schools do not permit so full a description of the voice as the subject deserves. For additional details, the student is referred to Cohen's The Throat and the Voice, a volume in the "American Health Primer ...

— A Practical Physiology • Albert F. Blaisdell

... primer was near at hand. When he wished to write, he made a picture with a stick, a stone, on a leaf, or traced his idea in the mud. When he wanted to count, he kept tally on his fingers, or with pebbles from the beach or brook. When he wished to communicate an idea orally, it was with ...

— The Warriors • Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown

... Northern Consolidated. Affairs in those theaters of commercial effort were as they should be. Things were moving slowly, they must of necessity move slowly, and Storri had grown impatient. The Russian's warmth was expected; Mr. Harley had read him long since like a primer book. Storri was excitable, volatile, full of fever and impulse, prone to go off at tangents. In some stress of nerves he had sent for Mr. Harley to urge expedition or ask for explanations. The thing ...

— The President - A novel • Alfred Henry Lewis

... tiene cincuenta y dos semanas. Un mes tiene cuatro semanas y dos o tres dias mas. La semana tiene siete dias. Los siete dias se llaman: Domingo, lunes, martes, miercoles, jueves, viernes y sabado. El domingo es el primer dia. Es el dia de reposo. El domingo la gente no trabaja porque es el ...

— A First Spanish Reader • Erwin W. Roessler and Alfred Remy

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