OVERTURE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does overture mean? 

• OVERTURE (noun)
  The noun OVERTURE has 3 senses:

1. orchestral music played at the beginning of an opera or oratorio

2. something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows

3. a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others

  Familiarity information: OVERTURE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OVERTURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Orchestral music played at the beginning of an opera or oratorio

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("overture" is a kind of...):

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

overture; preliminary; prelude

Context example:

drinks were the overture to dinner

Hypernyms ("overture" is a kind of...):

inception; origin; origination (an event that is a beginning; a first part or stage of subsequent events)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

advance; approach; feeler; overture

Context example:

she rejected his advances

Hypernyms ("overture" is a kind of...):

proffer; proposition; suggestion (a proposal offered for acceptance or rejection)

 Context examples 

He made overtures to White Fang from the first.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

"I liked the overture," was his answer.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But I resisted all these overtures, and sat there in desperation; each time asking him, with tears in my eyes, for my money or my jacket.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But now, when he has made his overtures so properly, and honourably—what are your scruples now?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Every movement advertised commingled threatening and overture of friendliness.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

That they were false, the general had learnt from the very person who had suggested them, from Thorpe himself, whom he had chanced to meet again in town, and who, under the influence of exactly opposite feelings, irritated by Catherine's refusal, and yet more by the failure of a very recent endeavour to accomplish a reconciliation between Morland and Isabella, convinced that they were separated forever, and spurning a friendship which could be no longer serviceable, hastened to contradict all that he had said before to the advantage of the Morlands—confessed himself to have been totally mistaken in his opinion of their circumstances and character, misled by the rhodomontade of his friend to believe his father a man of substance and credit, whereas the transactions of the two or three last weeks proved him to be neither; for after coming eagerly forward on the first overture of a marriage between the families, with the most liberal proposals, he had, on being brought to the point by the shrewdness of the relator, been constrained to acknowledge himself incapable of giving the young people even a decent support.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He had not been known to them as a boy; but soon after Lady Elliot's death, Sir Walter had sought the acquaintance, and though his overtures had not been met with any warmth, he had persevered in seeking it, making allowance for the modest drawing-back of youth; and, in one of their spring excursions to London, when Elizabeth was in her first bloom, Mr Elliot had been forced into the introduction.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Amy was much offended that her overtures of peace had been repulsed, and began to wish she had not humbled herself, to feel more injured than ever, and to plume herself on her superior virtue in a way which was particularly exasperating.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honoured father always gave me much uneasiness, and since I have had the misfortune to lose him, I have frequently wished to heal the breach; but for some time I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance.—'There, Mrs. Bennet.'—My mind, however, is now made up on the subject, for having received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England. As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive-branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends—but of this hereafter. If you should have no objection to receive me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday, November 18th, by four o'clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday se'ennight following, which I can do without any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that some other clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

These gods also made overtures to White Fang, but he warned them off with a snarl, and the master did likewise with word of mouth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)