preambulation
nounEtymology From pre- + ambulation.
1
Obsolete A walking or going before; precedence.
2
Obsolete A preamble.
- 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.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:
- 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.1889 July, Algernon Blackwood, “A Mysterious House”, in Belgravia, volume 69, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 98: