hornbook

[ hawrn-boo k ]

/ ˈhɔrnˌbʊk /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hornbook ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a leaf or page containing the alphabet, religious materials, etc., covered with a sheet of transparent horn and fixed in a frame with a handle, formerly used in teaching children to read.

a primer or book of rudiments.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

hornbag, hornbeam, hornbill, hornblende, hornblende schist, hornbook, hornby, horndog, horne, horne tooke, john, horne, marilyn

Origin of hornbook

First recorded in 1580–90; horn + book

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hornbook

This may seem like hornbook eighth-grade civics, but it bears repeating.
A Tea Party Shock to the System|Stephen L. Carter|August 1, 2011|DAILY BEAST
But not to nod over a hornbook at the petty school—not John Shakespeare's son!
A Warwickshire Lad|George Madden Martin
For hornbook and primmer for Jenkins' girle to learn to read, 6d.
Notes and Queries for Worcestershire|John Noake
The printed cardboard battledore was a successor of the hornbook.
Child Life in Colonial Days|Alice Morse Earle

And, Captain Borroughcliffe, as you appear to be forgetting the use of your own language, here is even a hornbook for you!
The Pilot|J. Fenimore Cooper
This like the criss-cross row in the hornbook was originally Christ's cross.
Child Life in Colonial Days|Alice Morse Earle

British Dictionary definitions for hornbook

hornbook

/ (ˈhɔːnˌbʊk) /

noun

a page bearing a religious text or the alphabet, held in a frame with a thin window of flattened cattle horn over it

any elementary primer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012