hornbook Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a primer that provides instruction in the rudiments or basic skills of a branch of knowledge

WordNet


Horn"book` noun
Definitions
  1. The first book for children, or that from which in former times they learned their letters and rudiments; -- so called because a sheet of horn covered the small, thin board of oak, or the slip of paper, on which the alphabet, digits, and often the Lord's Prayer, were written or printed; a primer. "He teaches boys the hornbook." Shak.
  2. A book containing the rudiments of any science or branch of knowledge; a manual; a handbook.

Webster 1913