the activity of putting or setting in order in advance of some act or purpose; "preparations for the ceremony had begun"
(music) a note that produces a dissonant chord is first heard in a consonant chord; "the resolution of one dissonance is often the preparation for another dissonance"
the dialect of Chinese spoken in Beijing and adopted as the official language for all of China
a somewhat flat reddish-orange loose skinned citrus of China
a high public official of imperial China
any high government official or bureaucrat
a member of an elite intellectual or cultural group
shrub or small tree having flattened globose fruit with very sweet aromatic pulp and thin yellow-orange to flame-orange rind that is loose and easily removed; native to southeastern Asia