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The act of reconnoitering; preliminary examination or survey. Specifically:

To examine with the eye to make a preliminary examination or survey of; esp., to survey with a view to military or engineering operations.

To keep in pay; to employ by a preliminary fee paid; to hire; to engage; as, to retain a counselor. A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned father of their order to write in its defense. Addison.

A preliminary sketch of the plot, or main incidents, of an opera.

A preliminary certificate of a subscription to the capital of a bank, railroad, or other company, or for a share of other joint property, or a loan, stating the amount of the subscription and the date of the payment of the installments; as, insurance scrip, consol scrip, etc. When all the installments are paid, the scr…

To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red- hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to dyeing it.

n object or scene as serves the artist's purpose by recording its chief features; also, a preliminary study for an original work.

Underbuilding; the foundation, or any preliminary structure intended to raise the lower floor or basement of a building above the natural level of the ground. It is a magnificent strong building, with a substruction very remarkable. Evelyn.

a cry or signal used in war; as, the Indian war cry. -- War dance, a dance among savages preliminary to going to war. Among the North American Indians, it is begun by some distinguished chief, and whoever joins in it thereby enlists as one of the party engaged in a warlike excursion. Schoolcraft. -- War field, a fiel…