Dictionary

pretheater en · ADJ

Etymology

From pre- + theater.

Meanings

1. (US, not-comparable) Before attending the theater (especially of drinks or a meal).
   • It's not necessary to be an expert on British royals before you see one of Shakespeare's history plays, but a little pretheater preparation never hurts. 2005, Janet Ware, Al Davis, 101 Things You Didn't Know About Shakespeare, Adams Media, →ISBN, page 172:
   • We picked up our tickets and stopped next door to have a pretheater drink. 1999 March 29, Enid Nemy, “Metropolitan Diary”, in New York Times:
   • If time just doesn't allow for a pretheater restaurant dinner, some places -- Broadway Sal's is one -- can arrange to deliver dinner right to your theater seat. 2002 November 3, Bruce McCall, “NEW YORK OBSERVED; For Every Light on Broadway, a Case of Indigestion”, in New York Times:
   • Even though a la carte prices aren't outrageous, we recommend the three-course pretheater menu. 2006, Donald Olson, Frommer's London from $95 a Day, 10th Edition, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 139:
   • Metrazur, in Grand Central Terminal, throws in a free miniature "suitcase" with its pretheater meal, filled with cookies to munch on during intermission and a $3 MetroCard for the commute to Broadway. 2000 February 9, Rick Marin, “Fashionably Early: New York Starts Buzzing Before Dusk”, in New York Times:
2. (US, not-comparable) Preceding the formation of theater.
   • During the early, pretheater period (ca. 700-1350), both religious and secular performing arts prospered. 1998, Karen Brazell, Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 4:

Forms