Found 2 items, similar to overture.
English → English (WordNet) Definition: overture overture n 1: orchestral music played at the beginning of an opera or oratorio 2: something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows; “training is a necessary preliminary to employment”; “drinks were the overture to dinner” [syn: preliminary, prelude] 3: a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others; “she rejected his advances” [syn: advance, approach, feeler]
English → English (gcide) Definition: Overture Overture \O"ver*ture\, [OF. overture, F. ouverture, fr. OF. ovrir, F. ouvrir. See Overt.] 1. An opening or aperture; a recess; a chamber. [Obs.] --Spenser. “The cave's inmost overture.” --Chapman. [1913 Webster] 2. Disclosure; discovery; revelation. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] It was he That made the overture of thy treasons to us. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 3. A proposal; an offer; a proposition formally submitted for consideration, acceptance, or rejection. “The great overture of the gospel.” --Barrow. [1913 Webster] 4. (Mus.) A composition, for a full orchestra, designed as an introduction to an oratorio, opera, or ballet, or as an independent piece; -- called in the latter case a concert overture . [1913 Webster] Overture \O"ver*ture\, v. t. To make an overture to; as, to overture a religious body on some subject. [1913 Webster]