Prep`a*ra"tion (?), n. [F.
préparation, L. praeparatio. See
Prepare.]
1. The act of preparing or fitting beforehand
for a particular purpose, use, service, or condition; previous
arrangement or adaptation; a making ready; as, the preparation
of land for a crop of wheat; the preparation of troops for a
campaign.
2. The state of being prepared or made ready;
preparedness; readiness; fitness; as, a nation in good
preparation for war.
3. That which makes ready, prepares the way,
or introduces; a preparatory act or measure.
I will show what preparations there were in
nature for this dissolution.
T. Burnet.
4. That which is prepared, made, or compounded
by a certain process or for a particular purpose; a combination.
Specifically: (a) Any medicinal substance fitted for
use. (b) Anything treated for preservation or
examination as a specimen. (c) Something prepared for
use in cookery.
I wish the chemists had been more sparing who magnify
their preparations.
Sir T. Browne.
In the preparations of cookery, the most
volatile parts of vegetables are destroyed.
Arbuthnot.
5. An army or fleet. [Obs.]
Shak.
6. (Mus.) The holding over of a note
from one chord into the next chord, where it forms a temporary
discord, until resolved in the chord that follows; the anticipation of
a discordant note in the preceding concord, so that the ear is
prepared for the shock. See Suspension.
7. Accomplishment; qualification. [Obs.]
Shak.
