preambulation

English

Etymology

pre- +‎ ambulation

Noun

preambulation (plural preambulations)

1. (obsolete) A walking or going before; precedence.
2. (obsolete) A preamble.
   • 1580, Humfrey Gifford, “Epistle to the Reader of the Prose in the "Posie"”, in Alexander B. Grosart, editor, The Poems of Humfrey Gifford, for private circulation, published 1870, →OCLC, page 33:

     But to omitte these preambulations, and come to the purpose, I tell thee—gentle Reader—if thou wilt vouchsafe the ouerlooking of this comfortable recreation, with a mind to profit, thou maist reape benefit, and be greatly bettered by the reading of it.

   • 1889 July, Algernon Blackwood, “A Mysterious House”, in Belgravia, volume 69, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 98:

     Explanations are usually very tedious, and so without any introduction or preambulation I will plunge right into the midst of this uncanny story I am about to tell.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “preambulation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• perambulation

Middle English

Noun

preambulation

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