prologue
See also: prologué
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English prologue, prologe, from Old French prologue, from Latin prologus, from Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
prologue (plural prologues)
- A speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel.
- Synonyms: forespeech; see also Thesaurus:foreword
- Antonyms: epilogue; see also Thesaurus:afterword
- 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: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
- “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. […] ”
- One who delivers a prologue.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, “the prologue”:
- And hither am I come, / A Prologue arm’d, but not in confidence / Of Authors pen, or Actors voyce;
- (computing) A component of a computer program that prepares the computer to execute a routine.
- (cycling) An individual time trial before a stage race, used to determine which rider wears the leader's jersey on the first stage.
- (Eastern Orthodoxy) A liturgical book containing daily readings, including hagiography.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
speech or section used as an introduction, especially to a play or novel
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Verb edit
prologue (third-person singular simple present prologues, present participle prologuing, simple past and past participle prologued)
- To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- […] harbindgers preceading ſtill the fates
and prologue to the Omen comming on […]
References edit
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024), “prologue”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Old French prologue, a borrowing from Latin prologus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
prologue m (plural prologues)
See also edit
Further reading edit
- “prologue”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Spanish edit
Verb edit
prologue
- inflection of prologar: