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 compound for igniting a charge of gunpowder.
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 (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. [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.
