noun

• (uncountable) The act of preparing or getting ready.
• (uncountable) The state of being prepared; readiness.
• (countable) That which is prepared.
• A substance, especially a remedy, that is prepared.
• (anatomy) A part of any animal body preserved as a specimen.
• (music) Any of the objects placed between the strings of a prepared piano.
• (Judaism) The day before the Sabbath or other Jewish feast-day.
• Devotional exercises introducing an office.
• (music) The previous introduction, as an integral part of a chord, of a note continued into a succeeding dissonance.