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.
Pri*me"ro (?), n. [Sp. primera, fr. primero first, from L. primarius.
See Premier.] A game at cards, now unknown. Shak.
Prim"er*ole (?), n. (Bot.) See Primrose. [Obs.] "She was a primerole."
Chaucer.
Pri*me"val (?), a. [L. primaevus; primus first + aevum age. See Prime,
a., and Age.] Belonging to the first ages; pristine; original;
primitive; primary; as, the primeval innocence of man. "This is the
forest primeval." Longfellow.
From chaos, and primeval darkness, came Light.
Keats.
Pri*me"val*ly, adv. In a primeval manner; in or from the earliest
times; originally. Darwin.