Meaning of hornbook | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A single page containing the alphabet, covered with a sheet of transparent horn, formerly used for teaching children to read.
   historical
2. A legal textbook that provides a basic overview of a particular area of law.

Examples

“Yes, yes, he teaches boyes the Horne-Booke: […]”

“HO′RNBOOK. n.ʃ. [horn and book] The firſt book of children, covered vvith horn to keep it unſoiled.”

“By way of the hornbook Shakespeare would have learned to read, […]”

“Infants learned their letters from a hornbook, a square of wood shaped like a table-tennis bat on which were pasted the alphabet, syllables and the Lord's Prayer […]”

“The hornbook is the first piece of instructional material specifically mentioned in American records.”

“Not only is it difficult to extract just the right doozy of an adjective out of the hornbook, but the maneuver can be performed at most twice in the course of an article or chapter.”

CEFR level