prelude

noun

1. An introductory or preliminary performance or event.

   “Adam Schiff, a Democratic senator from California, called it a “very dangerous escalation and a prelude to potential conflict”.”

2. A short, free-form piece of music, originally one serving as an introduction to a longer and more complex piece; later, starting with the Romantic period, generally a stand-alone piece.
3. A standard module or library of subroutines and functions to be imported, generally by default, into a program.

   “In the same way that Rust has a general prelude that brings certain types and functions into scope automatically, the std::io module has its own prelude of common types and functions you'll need when working with I/O.”

4. (figuratively)A forerunner to anything.

   “Swimmings of the head and intestinal pains seemed the prelude of dissolution.”

verb

1. To introduce something, as a prelude.
2. To play an introduction or prelude; to give a prefatory performance.

   “The musicians preluded on their instruments.”

   “We are preluding too largely, and must come at once to the point.”