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▪ I. primer, n.1|ˈprɪmə(r), ˈpraɪmə(r)|
Forms: α. 4– primer; also 4–6 prymer, 5 prymar, -mere, premere, 6 primare, 7 primere, -mier. β. 5–6 prymmer, 6–8 primmer.
[In 15th c. = med.L. prīmārius, -ārium, f. L. prīm-us first, or (?) prīma prime n.1: see -arium and cf. primer a.
(The actual reason for the name does not appear; the sense ‘first or primary book’, which suits sense 2, is less suitable to sense 1, which some would connect, as a book of Hours, with prime n.1)]
1. A name for prayer-books or devotional manuals for the use of the laity, used in England before, and for some time after, the Reformation.
The mediæval Primarium or Primer was mainly a copy, or (in English) a translation, of different parts of the Breviary and Manual. For its origin and structure, see the Introduction to ‘the Prymer or Lay Folks' Prayer Book’, edited by H. Littlehales, E.E.T.S. 1895–7. In the 14th and 15th centuries, in its simplest form, it contained the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, the 7 Penitential and 15 Gradual Psalms, the Litany, the Office for the Dead (Placebo and Dirige), and the Commendations; to which however various additions were often made. In the early 16th c., the printed editions of this in English (examples known from 1527) are often called on the title-page Prymer, and in the colophon, Horæ Beatæ Mariæ, or the like. The name was also given in 16th c. to books similar in character and purpose, partly based upon the Sarum Horæ, whether put out by private persons (e.g. Marshall's Primer, 1534), or with some sort of authority (e.g. Bp. Hilsey's Primer, 1539), or by royal authority, as the King's Primer of 1545 and the successive recensions issued in the reigns of Hen. VIII, Edw. VI, and Elizabeth; also to ‘the Uniform and Catholyke Prymer in Latin and English’, appointed for general use by Queen Mary's Letters Patent in 1555. The title was also used for several English or Latin and English editions of Horæ according to the Roman use, published in 1599 and later.
After the Reformation, Primer was also applied to books in which the offices for daily prayers were based upon the orders contained in the Book of Common Prayer. These are described in the Privilege to William Seres, the printer of the first of them in 1553 (see quot.) as ‘books of private prayers, called and usually taken and reported for Primers..set forth agreeable and according to the Book of common prayers’. Later forms of this, under the title ‘The Primer or Catechism set forth agreeable to the Book of Common Prayer’, were issued under Chas. II, Jas. II, Geo. II, and Geo. III, the latest app. in 1783.[1323Will Eliz. Bacon (cf. transl. in A. Gibbons Early Lincoln Wills 4) Domino Johanni la Ware fratri meo unum primarium quod fuit Margr' sororis mee..Item Margarete sorori mee..unum tressour cum primario meo.] 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. vi. 46 The lomes þat ich laboure with and lyflode deserue Ys pater-noster and my prymer placebo and dirige. 1434E.E. Wills (1882) 102 Also a prymmer for to serve god with. 1460Paston Lett. I. 539 My Maister Fastolf..by his othe made on his primer ther, grauntted and promitted to me to have the maner of Gunton. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 755/13 Hoc primarium, a premere. 1511Fabyan Will in Chron. (1811) Pref. 7 Wt my great masse booke, and also the great prymar, whiche before daies I gave to my wif. 1530Palsgr. 183 Vnes hevres, a primer or a mattyns boke. 1534(title) A Prymer in Englyshe, with certeyn prayers and godly meditations, very necessary for all people that vnderstonde not the Latyne Tongue. (Marshall's.) 1539J. Hilsey The Manuall of Prayers, or the Prymer in Englyshe Prol., Called the prymer, because (I suppose) that it is the fyrste boke that the tender youth was instructed in. 1545(title) The Primer, set foorth by the Kynges maiestie and his Clergie, to be taught, lerned, and read: and none other to be vsed throughout all his dominions. 1553Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 159 b, Reade we not these wordes in their Popish primare. 1553(title) A Prymmer or boke of priuate prayer nedeful to be vsed of al faythfull Christianes. (Seres.) 1605Gunpowder Plot in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 25 Having, upon a primer, given each other the oath of secrecy. 1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xxx. (1739) 139 This was the Clergy's Primmer, wherein they imployed their study. 1669(title) The Primer, or Three Offices of the B. Virgin Mary, in Latin and English [by Thomas Fitz Simon]. (Rouen.) 1686Evelyn Diary 12 Mar., One Hall, who styl'd himselfe his Majesty's printer..for the printing Missalls, Offices, Lives of Saints, Portals, Primers, &c., books expressly forbidden to be printed or sold, by divers Acts of Parliament. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 116 All Prayers to Saints were to be struck out of the Primmers, publish'd by the late King. 1846W. Maskell Mon. Rit. II. p. xxxii, xliii.
2. a. An elementary school-book for teaching children to read; formerly, ‘a little book, which children are first taught to read and to pray by’ (Phillips 1706); ‘a small prayer-book in which children are taught to read’ (Johnson 1755–73).
This sense gradually disengaged itself from the preceding, from which in early use it cannot be separated. The books included under sense 1 appear to have been also used in teaching to read and as first reading-books; and there may have been from early times forms of them specially intended for this purpose; such was perhaps the primer of quot. c 1386. In the 16th c., printed books of this kind became common; that mentioned in quot. c 1537 has a section containing the A. B. C., followed by the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Creed, Decalogue, forms of Grace before and after meat, and certain prayers. Recensions of Marshall's and Hilsey's Primers (quot. 1539), also began with the A. B. C. Smaller works containing the part for children only, began to be officially published in 1545, under the title of ‘The A B C’. Primers for children, issued under Edward VI and Elizabeth, contained also the Church Catechism; and after 1600 the main purpose of the Primer appears to have been educational; as known to Dr. Johnson, it contained, besides the alphabetic matter, ‘godly prayers and graces, very meet and necessary for the instruction of youth’. In Scotland, ‘the A B C with the Shorter Catechism’, containing also the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, Graces before and after meat, etc., was used as the first reading-book down to c 1800, and was until 1872 published as the official form of the Shorter Catechism. The use of the Primer, thus variously transformed, as a book in which children learned to read, at length so overshadowed its original purpose that, when all the devotional parts were eliminated, popular usage still continued to apply the ancient name to the Abecedarium pure and simple.
c1386Chaucer Prioress' T. 65 This litel child his litel book lernynge As he sat in the scole at his prymer He Alma redemptoris herde synge As children lerned hire Antiphoner. c1500Regr. Moone lf. 29 b (Somerset Ho.), The prymmer that she lernyth vppon. c1537(title) The Primer in English for children, after the vse of Sarum. 1539(title) The Primer in English most necessary for the education of children. a1617Bayne On Coloss. (1634) 82 It is a good primmer for us to spell in. 1639in Bury Wills (Camden) 176 For the buyeing and provideing of horne bookes and primers to be giuen to poore children of the said parish of St Maries. 1727Pope, etc. Art Sinking 89 But for which..the substance of many a fair volume, might be reduced to the size of a primmer. 1810Crabbe Borough xxiv, Where humming students gilded primers read. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 105 The treasured primer's lettered rows.
b. By extension, a small introductory book on any subject.
1807T. Burgess (title) A Hebrew Primer. 1846(title) Primer of the Irish Language. 1875(title of Series) Science Primers, edited by Professors Huxley, Roscoe, and Balfour Stewart. 1889(title) Primer of the History of the Catholic Church in Ireland. 1895E. Clodd (title) Primer of Evolution.
c. fig. That which serves as a first means of instruction.
1640Quarles Enchirid. iv. xcix, Keepe him from vaine..and amorous Pamphlets as the Primmers of all Vice. 1658J. Robinson Endoxa i. 4 Thus did Adam, Noah,..teach their Families, by the primmer of divine Traditions. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. iii. 201 Spell in lovers' primers sweetly. 1901Munsey's Mag. XXV. 672/1 In China,..learning is the first primer of power.
d. N.Z. With pronunc. |ˈprɪmə(r)|. One of the primer classes, covering the first years of instruction in a primary school; also, a child in a primer class.
1928Syllabus of Instruction for Primary Schools (N.Z. Dept. Educ.) 55 In all schools teachers of Primer classes will use ‘Physical Exercises and Games for Infants’. Ibid., Where there are three teachers: Primers do infant work; Squad I, Tables 1–36; [etc.]. 1947‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 92 There was Micky, her [sc. the teacher's] smallest primer, a little wizened creature with sad eyes. 1957J. Frame Owls do Cry xxviii. 125 He is in primer three at school. 1963N. Hilliard Piece of Land 191 It seemed no time since he'd been in the primers. 1963B. Pearson Coal Flat i. 8 She had taught in the primers of his school when he was in Standard six.
3. Typogr.
a. Great Primer, a size of type between Paragon and English, of 51 ems to a foot.
b. Long Primer, a size between Small Pica and Bourgeois, of 89 ems to a foot. Two-Line Long Primer = paragon (type).
1598Ord. Stationers' Co. in T. B. Reed Hist. Lett. Foundries (1887) 129 Those in brevier and long primer letters at a penny for one sheet and a half. 1612Sturtevant Metallica xiii. 89 The Long-primer, the Pica, the Italica. 1629C. Butler Oratoria A iv b, Genera literarum..corporum proceritate distinguuntur: Primier, Pique, English: & supra hæc, Great Primier, Double Pique, Double English. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing ii. ⁋2 Most Printing-Houses have..Pearl, Nomparel, Brevier, Long-Primmer, Pica, English, Great-Primmer, Double-Pica, Two-Lin'd-English. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 135 Two Lines Great Primer. 1771Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1887 I. 144 It was a folio, pro patria size in pica, with long primer notes. 1882Clar. Press List New Bks. 44 The Book of Common Prayer. Long Primer, 24mo.
†4. The first one. Obs.
1597Warner Alb. Eng. ix. Ded. 210 Such as that Henrie (Primer of you Hunsdon Barons) bee Your Lordshippe, to your Countrie. 1625F. Markham Bk. Hon. i. x. §1 When I looke..into the great Antiquitie of your Noble House (being in descent the Primere of our Nation).
†5. A student of the first grade at the university of St. Andrews. Obs.
1684A. Skeine Let. in Scottish Antiq. XI. 19 If his sone be a primer his expence will be as foloueth.
6. attrib. and Comb., as primer-school, an elementary school; primer-state, elementary state.
1545Primer Hen. VIII Injunction, For the auoydyng of the dyuersytie of primer bookes that are nowe abroade..whiche minister occasion of contentions. a1680Charnock Attrib. God (1834) I. 257 The law..could no more spiritualize the heart, than the teachings in a primer-school can enable the mind, and make it fit for affairs of state. 1903Critic XLIII. 368/1, I have passed this primer-state of religious emotion.
▪ II. primer, n.2|ˈpraɪmə(r)|
[f. prime v.1 + -er1.]
1. A priming-wire: see priming vbl. n.1 10.
1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 100 Wire for prymers. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiv. 68 His Primer is a small long peece of iron, sharpe at the small end to pierce the Cartrage thorow the toutch hole. 1826Scott Woodst. viii, Poise your musket—Rest your musket—Cock your musket—Handle your primers—and many other forgotten words of discipline.
2. a. A cap, wafer, cylinder, etc., containing fulminating powder or other compound, in communication with the powder of a cartridge, blasting charge, etc., which it ignites when exploded by percussion or otherwise.
1819Sporting Mag. IV. 185 The flash of fire from the end of the primer communicates fire, by the touch-hole, to the gunpowder contained in the barrel. 1838P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 138 Had not my primer missed fire, [I] should have had about 30 geese at another shot. 1869Pall Mall G. 8 Oct. 3 Unless purposely arranged to explode, or purposely ignited with a detonating primer, it [gun-cotton] is not an explosive at all. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 21 In the large turret-guns the primer is fired by electricity, entirely under command of the officer on duty.
b. Biochem. A molecule that serves as a starting material for a polymerization (see quot. 1976). Freq. attrib.
1954Cantarow & Schepartz Biochem. xvii. 391 A ‘primer’ of branched polysaccharide, the main linkages of which are α-1,4, is essential for the action of animal phosphorylase. 1963Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XLIX. 533 (heading) Formation of DNA-RNA hybrids with single-stranded DNA as primer. 1965M. W. Neil Vertebr. Biochem. (ed. 2) xii. 182 Polysaccharide synthesis involving the addition of uridine diphosphate-bound units to a primer chain is widespread in nature, and is the mechanism whereby such macromolecules as cellulose, chitin, starch and the mucopolysaccharides, in addition to glycogen, are elaborated. 1976Conn & Stumpf Outl. Biochem. (ed. 4) xviii. 507 Primer, in biochemistry, refers to the initial terminus of a molecule onto which additional units are added to produce the final product. 1977D. E. Metzler Biochem. xv. 903/2 The enzyme displays many of the properties expected of a DNA-synthesizing enzyme. It requires a template strand of DNA as well as a shorter primer strand.
c. Physiol. (See quots. 1963, 1975.) Freq. attrib.
1963Wilson & Bossert in Recent Progress Hormone Res. XIX. 674 We propose to distinguish the releaser effect, involving the classical stimulus-response mediated wholly by the central nervous system, from the primer effect, in which the endocrine and reproductive..systems are altered physiologically. Ibid. (caption) The pheromone may be the primary stimulus causing a quick behavioral response (releaser effect), or it may act more slowly and indirectly by altering the physiology and ‘priming’ the animal for a different behavioral repertory (primer effect). 1971Nature 16 Apr. 432/2 Pheromonal primer effects are near-universal in social mammals, including primates. 1975Ibid. 20 Nov. 194/2 The action of pheromones is commonly divided into two classes..: chemical ‘releasers’ of specific acts of behaviour, and ‘primers’ which seem to act initially on the endocrine system.
3. = priming vbl. n.1 4 a.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 369/2 By this Instrument [the Priming Knife] are all sorts of Cloths laid over with their first colour, which is called Primer. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 215 Spanish-brown, Spanish-white, and Red-lead,..ground with Linseed-oyl, will make excellent Primer. 1937Times 13 Apr. (Brit. Motor Suppl.) p. xiii/1 Before colour can be applied the body undergoes a number of preparatory stages, being thoroughly washed down with an acid cleaner and afterwards with hot and cold water, and dried off in preparation for the first coat of primer. 1958Listener 14 Aug. 251/2 If the patches are touched in with primer and undercoat you will not run into any trouble. 1969W. R. R. Park Plastics Film Technol. vi. 156 An effective primer works better with a thick coating. 1976Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 11 Nov. 8/3 These were then given a ‘primer’ coat of lime plaster—almost like white-wash—and the geometrical designs painted on.
4. A person who primes.
a. One who loads or charges detonators.
1890Pall Mall G. 18 Sept. 7/2 When compounded, it has still to be packed into the detonator cases by the primer. The primer's work is done upon a copper-plate, perforated like a cullender.
b. One who prepares canvas, etc. for a painter.
1896Daily News 15 Feb. 10/4 Canvas Primer Wanted. Must be thoroughly experienced in preparing all kinds of Artist's Canvas.
5. Aeronaut. = priming pump s.v. priming vbl. n.1 8.
1923Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (Brit. Engin. Standards Assoc.) 48 Engine primer, a device for supplying fuel to the induction pipe or combustion chambers to facilitate starting. 1932Chatfield & Taylor Airplane & Engine (ed. 2) x. 225 In automobiles this temporary excess of fuel for starting is supplied by means of the choke but for airplane engines a primer is usually used. 1939Aero Engines II. 256 Always turn off the primer after use.
▪ III. primer, n.3 rare.|ˈpraɪmə(r)|
[f. prime v.3 + -er1.]
One who prunes trees, etc.
1611Cotgr., Arborateur, a planter, primer, dresser, breeder of trees.
▪ IV. primer, a.|ˈprɪmə(r), ˈpraɪmə(r)|
[a. AF. primer = OF. primer (a 1000 in Godef. Compl.), also premer, mod.F. premier, Pr. primer, Sp. primero, Pg. primeiro, It. primiero:—L. prīmāri-us primary: see premier.]
(Now only in phrases in sense 3.)
†1. First in time; early; primitive. Obs.
[1343Rolls of Parlt. II. 144/1 Aussi bien des Beneficz come des primers Fruitz.] 1448Hen. VI in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 353 The prymer notable werk purposed by me. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xx. 40 They to enioye them as in their primer state. c1557Abp. Parker Ps. lxxviii. 225 He stroyd theyr fruites..Their prymer fruts. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 255 All thynges may be referred to this, as to the primer cause efficient. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxiv. 123 St Lucius (call'd of us) the primer christen'd King.
†2. First in position, rank, or importance; chief, leading, foremost, premier. Obs.
1589Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxix. (1612) 143 These primer Yorkests. 1602Ibid. xiii. lxxvi. 316 The Primer Mouers violence. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry iv. vii. (1660) 293 The..Mercers being the primer Company of the City of London. 1637W. Crowne True Relation, etc. (title-p.), Lord Howard, Earle of Arundell and Surrey, Primer Earle, and Earle Marshall of England. 1747Mem. Nutrebian Crt. II. 212 The contemptible pity of the primer sort.
3. a. primer fine, in Feudal Law [lit. ‘first fine’: see fine n.1 7 a], the sum, usually about one-tenth of the annual value of the land sued for, paid to the crown by a plaintiff who sued for the recovery of lands by a writ of covenant; = pre-fine. Now only Hist.
a1634Coke 2nd Pt. Inst. (1642) 511 A Writ of covenant is brought to levy a fine of land, of the yearly value of v. marks, there is vi.s. viij.d. due presently [i.e. at once] for the primer fine, or fine in the Hamper. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. xxi. 350 On this writ there is due to the king, by antient prerogative, a primer fine, or a noble for every five marks of land sued for; that is, one tenth of the annual value.
b. primer seisin, in Feudal Law [lit. ‘first seisin’], a feudal right of the English Crown to receive from the heir of a tenant in capite who died seised of a knight's fee, such heir being of age, the profits of his estate for the first year; abolished in 1660. Now only Hist.
1488Rolls of Parlt. VI. 415/2 Savyng to the King and his Heires, the avantage of his primer cession of thos Landes. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 39 §5 Thissues and profites for the Premer season of the same Honours Manoris londes. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 1 Saving alway and reserving to the King..all his right title and interest of prymer season and reliefis, and..all other rightes and dueties. a1625Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 148 Tenure by Socage in chiefe giueth the King primer seisin, or the value of that land by a yeere, if the heire be of the age of 14, at his ancestors death. 1648Articles Peace vii. in Milton's Wks. (1851) II, Profit by Wardship, Liveries, Primer-seisins, Measne Rates, Ousterlemains or Fines of Alienations without Licence. 1660Act 12 Chas. II, c. 24 §1 It is hereby Enacted That..all Wardships Liveries Primer-Seizins and Ouster-le-mains..be taken away. 1672Cowell's Interpr. s.v., All the charges arising by Primer seisins are taken away by the Stat. made 12 Car. 2. ca. 24. |