preface

preface (something) by (doing something)

To do something as an introduction to something else. Often used in passive constructions. Let me preface this statement by first apologizing unreservedly for what has happened. She prefaced her speech by reading well wishes written friends and family from around who couldn't make it to the wedding. The ceremony was prefaced by a performance by the school choir.
See also: by, preface

preface (something) with (doing something)

To recite something as an introduction to something else. Often used in passive constructions. Let me preface this statement with an unreserved apology for what has happened. We should always preface these board meetings with a reading of the previous meeting's minutes.
See also: preface
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

preface something by something

to begin something by saying, writing, or reading something. I would like to preface my prepared remarks by making a personal observation. Her remarks were prefaced by the reading of a poem.
See also: by, preface

preface something with something

to begin something with a particular message. She prefaced her speech with a recitation of one of her favorite poems. Alice prefaced her remarks with a few personal comments.
See also: preface
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • all right
  • a/the feel of (something)
  • (I) wouldn't (do something) if I were you
  • (you've) got to get up pretty early in the morning to (do something)
  • a straw will show which way the wind blows
  • a crack at (someone or something)
  • a walking
  • a walking (something)
  • (you) wanna make something of it?
  • all for the best
References in periodicals archive
Hemingway attempts to preface his work with appropriate positioning.
203) also suggests that the analysis of prefaces could be useful to translator trainees in that they can learn from and adopt the guidelines provided in the preface.
The persuasive quality of the preface constitutes a fascinating area of inquiry, not only for the fields of translation studies and rhetoric, but for the study of literature as well.
At first sight and touch, the physical fact of the 2016 edition of Edward Garnett's 1937 collection of Conrad's prefaces, edited and with a foreword by Owen Knowles, is a bibliophile's joy.
These front matter pages may include: foreword, preface by the editor, preface, acknowledgements and introduction.
As a consequence, the preface plays an unusually pivotal material role in books produced throughout this period.
But what paths to interpretation may emerge if we incorporate the preface into our reading?
Not until 1830 does Lamartine speak about poetry in his own voice, in the Discours de reception a l'Academie francaise praising his predecessor the Count Daru (translator of Horace) and in the preface to Harmonies poetiques et religieuses, where he articulates a symphonic poetics arising from the fusion of personal anguish and religious faith with the natural world.
However, Swapan Kumar Bose, author of the upcoming book Carnival of Dreams, clarifies that there is no mention of Oman in the book except in the preface. But the foreword is very significant, he explains.
Preface to the preface: there is a white bone/contained in [this] thin tin sack: a pretender/a corpse/a red-washed bladder//a false Do you recognise?
The volume contains not only considerations of literary texts--the novels of Marivaux, Prevost, and Bernardin de Saint Pierre, as well as prefaces to translations of English novels--but also looks at the emergence and development of the scholarly preface.
Referring to the preface, Bunch asks, "How cool is this?
This is a reprint of Woodward's work with a new preface giving biographical information on the author.
The most extensive study in the volume is the final one, which examines in detail the prefaces to Robert Olivetan's 1535 French Bible, in particular the fourth preface, directed to the Jews.
The editor has contributed a new preface and, whilst mentioning that Auden sometimes made revisions to the US text which were different from those for the UK text, concludes that 'the complexity of the resulting textual problems exceeds their importance'.