▪ I. abecedary, a. and n.1
(ˌeɪbɪˈsiːdərɪ)
Also ABCDary, abcedary, abscedarie.
[ad. med.L. abecedāri-us alphabetical, also n. masc. a learner of the alphabet; f. the names of the letters A B C D. See also next word.]
A. adj.
1. Of or according to the alphabet; alphabetic; marked with the alphabet; arranged in alphabetical order.
| 1580 Fleming in Baret Alvearie Nnnn 2 Such Prouerbes as we have collected and reduced into an Abecedarie Index or Table. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. (1650) 76 Two Abecedary circles, or rings with letters described round about them. 1803 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. I. 431 The French are very fond of abcedary instruction. |
2. Engaged with or needing to learn the alphabet; illiterate.
| 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurd. 20 Thanking God with that abscedarie Priest in Lincolnshire, that he neuer knewe what that Romish popish Latine meant. 1603 Florio Montaigne i. lv. 170 There is a kind of Abecedarie ignorance preceding science: another doctorall following science. |
B. n. An abecedary scholar or teacher. (Cf. Florio 1611, Abecedário, a teacher or learner of A B C.)
| 1607 Sir T. Bodeley Let. to Ld. Bacon in Bacon's Wks. (1730) 578 Being now become again as it were abecedarii by the frequent spelling of particulars, to come to the notice of the true generals. 1623 Minsheu, An Abecedarie, or teacher of petties, vide Abecedario. Abecedario, a teacher to spell, reade, and the vse of the a b c, &c. |
▪ II. † abeˈcedary, n.2 Obs.
Also 5 abscedary; 6 absedary; 7 abcedarie.
[ad. med.L. abecedārium an alphabet or primer; cf. Prom. Parv. 1440 Apece, alphabetum, abecedarium, and Cooper Thesaurus 1573, Abecedarium, an absee; see prec. and -arium, -ary.]
A table or book containing the alphabet; a primer; the first rudiments of anything.
| 1432–50 Harl. Tr. of Higden (Rolls Ser.) VII. 333 Lanfrancus toke to hym an abscedary [1387 Trevisa, A þing wiþ letters for to spel]. 1575 A Brieff Discours 35 (1846) Therfore, it was lawfull to begin off suche rudimentes or absedaries. 1615 Byfield On Colossians ii. 8 (1869) 198/1 But it is most likely they [the laws] are called so [rudiments or elements] by a grammatical relation to the abcedaries. 1623 Minsheu, An Abecedarie or alphabet, vide Abece. Abece, the crosse rowe or alphabet of all the letters. 1660 Hy. Hexham Engl. & Nether-Duytch Dict., Een A B C, an Abecedarie or an alphabet. Een A B C Meester, a Schoole⁓master that teacheth the Abecedarie. |