overture

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman, Middle French overture, from Old French overture. Doublet of aperture.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvətjʊə/, /ˈəʊvətʃ(ʊ)ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊvəɹtʃəɹ/

overture (plural overtures)

1. (obsolete) An opening; a recess or chamber. [15th-19th c.]
   • Chapman

     the cave's inmost overture

2. (obsolete) Disclosure; discovery; revelation.
   • Shakespeare

     It was he / That made the overture of thy treasons to us.

3. (often in plural) An approach or proposal made to initiate communication, establish a relationship etc. [from 15th c.]
   • 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian‎:

     Sarkozy gave a defiant speech, going on the offensive and betraying no hint of having been beaten. He styled the result as a "crisis" vote, by a French population which was "suffering". In a clear overture to Le Pen's voters, and the extreme-right motto of loving France, he said: "I call on all French people who put love of their country above partisan considerations, to unite and join me."

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 20:

     My mother had no choice; one did not turn down such an overture from the regent.

4. (Scotland) A motion placed before a legislative body, such as the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. [from 16th c.]
5. (music) A musical introduction to a piece of music. [from 17th c.]

• (opening of a piece of music): coda

• overt

overture (third-person singular simple present overtures, present participle overturing, simple past and past participle overtured)

1. (intransitive) To make overtures; to approach with a proposal.
   • 2012, K.H. Rubin, ‎H.S. Ross, Peer Relationships and Social Skills in Childhood (page 44)

     For a partner setting a table in a game of “house,” an overturing child might assume the role of the father returning home from work at dinnertime rather than overturing by throwing a ball toward the child and yelling “catch.”

• trouvère

overt +‎ -ure, from ovrir (“to open”), or from Vulgar Latin *opertūra, from Latin apertūra.

overture f (oblique plural overtures, nominative singular overture, nominative plural overtures)

1. an opening

   Par l'overture s'en saut hors. (Tristan, Béroul)

   He jumped out through the opening.

• English: overture
• French: ouverture