View synonyms for hornbook

hornbook

[ hawrn-book ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

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.

hornbook

/ ˈhɔːnˌbʊk /

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

First recorded in 1580–90; horn + book

This may seem like hornbook eighth-grade civics, but it bears repeating.

And, Captain Borroughcliffe, as you appear to be forgetting the use of your own language, here is even a hornbook for you!

It was difficult to get books in those days, and a hornbook would last a long time.

They also tell of the use of the hornbook and the sun-dial, describe the making of soap and candles, and so forth.

But not to nod over a hornbook at the petty school—not John Shakespeare's son!

His "Gull's Hornbook" is written against coxcombs, and he says their "vinegar railings shall not quench his Alpine resolutions."

April 18, 2024petrichor

[pet-ri-kawr]

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