overture

4 definitions found

overture - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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.
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     3. A proposal; an offer; a proposition formally submitted for
        consideration, acceptance, or rejection. "The great
        overture of the gospel." --Barrow.
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     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]

overture - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  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,
         overture, prelude]
      3: a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of
         others; "she rejected his advances" [syn: overture,
         advance, approach, feeler]

overture - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  50 Moby Thesaurus words for "overture":
     Vorspiel, advance, approach, asking price, avant-propos, bid,
     breakthrough, concert overture, curtain raiser, descant,
     dramatic overture, exordium, feeler, foreword, front matter,
     frontispiece, innovation, introduction, invitation, leap, offer,
     offering, operatic overture, overtures, postulate, preamble,
     preface, prefix, prefixture, preliminary, preliminary approach,
     prelude, premise, presentation, presupposition, proem, proffer,
     prolegomena, prolegomenon, prolepsis, prologue, proposal,
     proposition, protasis, submission, tender, tentative approach,
     vamp, verse, voluntary