Also 9 entré. [Fr.: for the earlier adoption of the word see ENTRY.]
1. a. The action or manner of entering. b. The privilege or right of entrance; admission.
a. 1782. Cowper, Lett. 5 Jan. My public entrée therefore is not far distant.
1803. Mar. Edgeworth, Tales & Nov., IV. (1832), 326. Nothing could be more awkward … than our entrée.
1888. W. R. Carles, Life in Corea, iii. 28. Women have the right of entrée everywhere.
b. 1786. Lounger (1787), II. 243. I was the only person to whom she gave the constant entrée into her boudoir.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, I. xxiii. 181–2. My mother’s introductions had procured me the entrée of the best French houses.
2. Cookery. A ‘made dish,’ served between the fish and the joint. (Littré explains entrées as ‘mets qui se servent au commencement du repas.’)
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxiii. Two little entrées of sweetbread and chicken.
1880. Sir H. Thompson, Food & Feeding, 84. A family dinner may … consist of soup, fish, entrée, roast and sweet.
3. Music. † a. ‘A small piece of music in slow 4–4 time, with the rhythm of a march, and usually containing two bars, each repeated’ (obs.). b. ‘The opening piece (after the overture) of an opera or ballet’ (Grove, Dict. Mus., s.v.).
