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.
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2. Disclosure; discovery; revelation. [Obs.]
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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.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Overture \O"ver*ture\, v. t.
To make an overture to; as, to overture a religious body on
some subject.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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,
prelude]
3: a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of
others; "she rejected his advances" [syn: advance, approach,
feeler]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
advance, approach, feeler, preliminary, prelude
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