PRELUDE

I. noun see: ludicrous Date: 1561 an introductory performance, action, or event preceding and preparing for the principal or a more important matter, 2. a musical section or movement introducing the theme or chief subject (as of a fugue or suite) or serving as an introduction to an opera or oratorio, an opening voluntary, a separate concert piece usually for piano or orchestra and based entirely on a short motif, II. verb (~d; preluding) Date: 1655 transitive verb to serve as a ~ to, to play as a ~, intransitive verb to give or serve as a ~, ~r noun