hornbook

(hérn’buk), n. 1. A leaf l or page, usually one containing the alphabet, the nine digits, and the Hornbook. Lord’s Prayer, covered with transparent horn and fixed in a frame with a handle: formerly used in teaching children to read. He teaches boys the horn-book, Shak., L. L. L., v. 1. To Master John the English Maid A Horn-book gives of Ginger-bread; And that the Child may learn the better, As he can name, he eats the Letter. Prior, Alma, ii. Hence—2. A book containing the first principles of any science or branch of knowledge; a primer. horn-bug (hérn’bug), ». A very common North American beetle, Pa alus cornutus, of the family Lucanide, of large size, elongate form, and. shining black color with pitch-black legs, the elytra suleate with regularly impre ed lines of punctures, and the head armed with a stout eurved horn. Its whitish larva, found in decaying Horn-bug (Pa alus cornutus), natural size. @, larva; 4, pupa; c, beetle; @, under side of three thoracic joints of larva, showing legs; e, metathoracic leg of larva. stumps and logs, has the third pair of legs rudimentary, but the two anterior pairs are well developed. Riley, 4th Mo. Ent. Rep., p. 139. horn-card (hérn’kird),. A transparent plate of horn graduated for use on charts, either as a protractor or for meteorological purposes, to represent the direction of the wind in a cyclone. Smyth.