Prim"er (?), 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 capable for igniting a charge of gunpowder.
© Webster 1913.
Prim"er, a. [OF. primer, primier, premier, F. premier. See Premier.]
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 FeudalLaw, 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.
© Webster 1913.
Prim"er (?), n. [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.
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.
Great primer type.
© Webster 1913.