entrée

noun4

1. •
   (UK, Australia) A smaller dish served before the main course of a meal.

   • Even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for half-cold entrées, as Lord Henry remarked once, in a discussion on the subject, and there is possibly a good deal to be said for his view. — 1891
2. •
   (US, Canada) The main course or main dish of a meal.

   • Entree: The main course is normally beef, chicken, duck, or lamb, and you eat these foods with a dinner knife and dinner fork. — 2007
3. •
   The act of entering somewhere, or permission to enter; admittance.

   • It was not by the aid of mules and porters, sedans and sledges, that the hero of Carthage made his entrée into Italy. — 1796
4. •
   An introduction or prelude.