Primer \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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Primer \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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Primer \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.

Note: Great primer type.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)