primer Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun an introductory textbook
noun any igniter that is used to initiate the burning of a propellant
fusee; fuze; fuse; fuzee; priming.
noun the first or preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface
ground; primer coat; flat coat; undercoat; priming coat; priming.

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.

OF. primer, primier, premier, F. premier. See Premier.

First; original; primary. Obs. "The primer English kings." Drayton. Blackstone.

Originally, the book read at prime, the first canonical hour. LL. primae liber. See Prime, n., 4.

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.
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.
(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.