primer

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The primer, or office of the Blessed Virgin. Bp. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a reading or spelling book for a beginner. [ 1913 Webster ]

As he sat in the school at his prymer. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

primertype>Great primer type.primertype> [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OF. primer, primier, premier, F. premier. See Premier. ] First; original; primary. [ Obs. ] “The primer English kings.” Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sp. primera, fr. primero first, from L. primarius. See Premier. ] A game at cards, now unknown. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]