prolog

Noun

prologue (plural prologues)

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...1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London...

   Synonyms:

   forespeech, foretale, foretalk, foreword

   Antonyms:

   epilogue, afterword, conclusion, endsay, endspeech, postamble

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;c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida. The Prologue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
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. (Eastern Orthodoxy) A liturgical book containing daily readings, including hagiography.

See all 6 meanings of prologue