anticipation

plural anticipations

1. countableuncountableThe act of anticipating, taking up, placing, or considering something beforehand, or before the proper time in natural order.

   Often the anticipation of a shot is worse than the pain of the stick.

   1 more example

   So shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king and queen moult no feather.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

2. countableuncountableThe eagerness associated with waiting for something to occur.

   I was giddy with anticipation.

   4 more examples

   He waited with great anticipation for Christmas to arrive.

   He waited in anticipation of the arrival of Christmas.

   November 20, 1836, Samuel Thodey, The Honour Attached to Eminent Piety and Usefulness anticipation of that final hour which he had long contemplated as near at hand

   The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   Synonyms: electricity

3. countableuncountablebusinessPrepayment of a debt, generally in order to pay less interest.
4. countablerhetoricuncountableProlepsis.
5. countableuncountableentertainmentA non-harmonic tone that is lower or higher than a note in the previous chord and a unison to a note in the next chord.
6. countableobsoleteuncountableHasty notion; intuitive preconception.

   [M]any Men give themſelves up to the firſt anticipations of their minds, and are very tenacious of the Opinions that firſt poſſeſs them; [...]

   a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC, § 25, page 81