pregame

• pre-game

pre- +‎ game

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pregame (plural pregames)

1. A social gathering of several friends who get together to drink before going out to a party or a sports game, in order to get a "buzz" before going out for the night.
   • 2019, Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers, page 194:

     P: And what was going on there at Griffin Suite?
     Julia: A pregame.

   • 2013 February 2, Alan Feuer, “A Pregame Reunion in Brooklyn”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     When the Brooklyn Nets are in town, there are office parties and tieless finance guys and pregame groups, like the one that showed up Wednesday night to celebrate the reunion of two old friends with a meal and some basketball (the Miami Heat, led by LeBron James, later trounced the home team).

2. A television show preceding a sports game wherein commentators discuss that game.
   • 2006, Greg Giesen, Ask Dr. Mac: Take the Journey to Authentic Leadership, page 43:

     "Hey sport, do you want to watch the pregame?" asked Justin.

   • 2007, Theo Gangi, BANg BAnG, page 26:

     Izzy had gone to the bar to catch the pregame.

   • 2012, Tony DiPardo, Tony Dipardo: Life, Love, Music and Football‎:

     At the first Super Bowl, the pregame featured the marching bands from the University of Arizona and Grambling University.

3. (figurative) A period of time before an important event.
   • 2015 December 23, Robinson Meyer, “When a Rocket Launch Is a Cultural Event”, in The Atlantic‎:

     You can see the entire thing on SpaceX’s website. It looks long—45 whole minutes!—but there’s really only a 20-minute pregame, and then the rocket takes off, and then it flies and the stages separate and then it lands.

• tailgate party

pregame (not comparable)

1. Taking place before, or in preparation for, a sporting event or other game.
   • 2012 March 14, Andrew Cohen, “Will the Affordable Care Act Argument Be Worth the Hype?”, in The Atlantic‎:

     Enough already with the predictions. Enough with the pregame analysis. Enough with the sidebars. Enough with the practices. Let the battle begin!

pregame (third-person singular simple present pregames, present participle pregaming, simple past and past participle pregamed)

1. (slang, intransitive) To consume alcohol prior to an event.

   Synonyms: preload, pre-drink

   • 2013, Karen G. Weiss, Party School: Crime, Campus, and Community, UPNE, →ISBN, page 57:

     In some cases, pregaming is a precursor to the “real” drinking that will take place later that night at house parties or bars, but sometimes students pregame in order to get drunk before heading out to social activities […]

   • 2019, Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers, page 195:

     After pregaming, Julia heads to the Kappa Alpha party, where she discovers an unopened bottle of vodka in the basement.

pregame

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of pregar combined with me