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View synonyms for hornbook

hornbook

[ hawrn-book ]

noun

  1. 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.
  2. a primer or book of rudiments.


hornbook

/ ˈhɔːnˌbʊk /

noun

  1. a page bearing a religious text or the alphabet, held in a frame with a thin window of flattened cattle horn over it
  2. 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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of hornbook1

First recorded in 1580–90; horn + book
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Example Sentences

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."

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