Definition of "curtain-raiser" [curtain-raiser]

• A short opening piece acted before the principal play of the evening. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "This acted as a curtain-raiser for the important restatement of the ideals themselves:"
• "South Downs was commissioned by the Terence Rattigan Trust to serve as a curtain-raiser to a new production of The Browning Version marking the centenary of the playwright's birth."
• "The popular perception has been that democracy and fascism fought it out in Spain in a curtain-raiser for the approaching world war."