Meaning

• An introductory or preliminary performance or event.

• 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.

• A standard module or library of subroutines and functions to be imported, generally by default, into a program.

• A forerunner to anything.

Meaning

• To introduce something, as a prelude.

• To play an introduction or prelude; to give a prefatory performance.