prologue

noun

1. (rhetoric)A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.

   ““H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]””

2. One who delivers a prologue.

   “And hither am I come, / A Prologue arm’d, but not in confidence / Of Authors pen, or Actors voyce;”

3. A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to execute a routine.
4. An individual time trial before a stage race, used to determine which rider wears the leader's jersey on the first stage.
5. A liturgical book containing daily readings, including hagiography.

verb

1. (rhetoric)To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue.

   “[…]harbindgers preceading ſtill the fates and prologue to the Omen comming on[…]”