Lexic.us

Definition of Hornbook

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

Definition of Hornbook

1. n. 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.

Definition of Hornbook

1. Noun. A single page containing the alphabet, covered with a sheet of transparent horn, formerly used for teaching children to read.The '''[ American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking]''' by W.W. Pasko (1894) ¹

2. Noun. (legal) A legal textbook that gives a basic overview of a particular area of law. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Hornbook

1. a primer [n -S] - See also: primer

Hornbook Pictures

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Lexicographical Neighbors of Hornbook

Literary usage of Hornbook

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society by American Antiquarian Society (1916)
"On the face of the hornbook was either a piece of vellum or paper upon ... This hornbook of the seventeenth century is an excellent example (Figure 1). ..."

2. Early Schools and School-books of New England by George Emery Littlefield, Club of Odd Volumes (1904)
"The hornbook, or tablet, is supposed to have originated with some tired scribe, ... The hornbook in English appeared about the time of the Reformation; ..."

3. Our Colonial Curriculum, 1607-1776 by Colyer Meriwether (1907)
"From this he would go on to the combinations into words and thus tempt the child as a recreation and not as a task. THE hornbook. The Assyrian clay tile ..."

4. American Journal of Education (1860)
"... "ordinary road of the hornbook and Primer," and directs that "the Lord's Prayer, ... Ыя venerable preceptress, thus records the use of the hornbook:— ..."

5. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, Or Origin of by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1898)
"In >-t the death. Present when the fox was caught and killed. Death and Doctor hornbook. Doctor hornbook was John Wilson the apothecary, whom the poet ,roet ..."

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