WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Prim"er
Part of Speech : n.
Definition : Defn: 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Prim"er
Part of Speech : a.
Etymology : [OF. primer, primier, premier, F. premier. See Premier.]
Definition : Defn: 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Prim"er
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [Originally, the book read at prime, the first canonical hour. LL. primae liber. See Prime, n., 4.]
Definition : 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.)

Defn: 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