PRELUDE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Prelude

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/prˈeɪlˌud/ Listen

noun

Prelude n. An introductory performance, preceding and preparing for the principal matter; a preliminary part, movement, strain, etc.; especially (Mus.), a strain introducing the theme or chief subject; a movement introductory to a fugue, yet independent; with recent composers often synonymous with overture. "The last Georgic was a good prelude to the Aenis" "The cause is more than the prelude, the effect is more than the sequel, of the fact."

Synonyms: Preface; introduction; preliminary; preamble; forerunner; harbinger; precursor.

verb

Prelude v. t.

1.

To introduce with a previous performance; to play or perform a prelude to; as, to prelude a concert with a lively air.

2.

To serve as prelude to; to precede as introductory. "(Music) preluding some great tragedy."

Prelude v. i. (past & past part. preluded; pres. part. preluding) To play an introduction or prelude; to give a prefatory performance; to serve as prelude. "The musicians preluded on their instruments." "We are preluding too largely, and must come at once to the point."

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Etymology of 'Prelude'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Prelude" Quotes from Famous Books

... maladies, throve. The little detective came down again. He was oddly inquisitive about that chanson a boire from "Fleur de The." Would Mr. Waring hum it for him? And Sam, now sitting up in his parlor, turned to his piano, and with long, slender, fragile-looking fingers rattled a lively prelude and then ...

— Waring's Peril • Charles King

... orchestra! Did anybody ever hear such an idiotic orchestra? Three violins, one cello, one cornet, one flute and a drum all out of tune, all out of time. The prelude. And his nobs grins. Poor fellow. But who taught him how to hold a fiddle ...

— A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago • Ben Hecht

... the door were noiselessly drawn, and that of the lock forced back; then the two little parties stole out, in the order in which they had been directed. The guerillas had just begun to fire heavily, as a prelude, Terence had no doubt, to a serious attack upon the church. Fortunately there were no houses at the back of the church, and no shout indicated that the party were seen. They therefore kept together, ...

— Under Wellington's Command - A Tale of the Peninsular War • G. A. Henty

... pushed as much of his hair out of his eyes as he could reach with one hand, cleared his throat, looked dreamily over the top of the piano at a photograph of Archie's father-in-law, Mr. Daniel Brewster, played a prelude, and began to sing in a weak, high, composer's voice. All composers sing exactly alike, and they have to be heard to ...

— Indiscretions of Archie • P. G. Wodehouse

... the hissing of shells in the streets we awoke to a sense of what was real. In the blackness of the early morning it was hard to connect the booming of cannon with reality. The shells were falling and bursting in rapid succession. It was the inauguration of a nerve-ordeal; the prelude to a terrible day; the beginning of a bombardment ...

— The Siege of Kimberley • T. Phelan

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