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.
An introductory or preliminary performance or event.
A forerunner to anything.
A standard module or library of subroutines and functions to be imported, generally by default, into a program.
To play an introduction or prelude; to give a prefatory performance.
To introduce something, as a prelude.
A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.
A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to execute a routine.