pregame

plural pregames · alternative pre-game

1. A social gathering of friends who get together to drink before going out to a party or a sports game, in order to generate a slight feeling of intoxication before going out for the night.

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

   2019, Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers, page 194

   1 more example

   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).

   2013 February 2, Alan Feuer, “A Pregame Reunion in Brooklyn”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 29 Mar 2023

2. A television show preceding a sports game wherein commentators discuss that game.

   Izzy had gone to the bar to catch the pregame.

   2007, Theo Gangi, BANg BAnG, page 26

   2 more examples

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

   2006, Greg Giesen, Ask Dr. Mac: Take the Journey to Authentic Leadership, page 43

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

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

3. figurativelyA period of time before an important event.

   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.

   2015 December 23, Robinson Meyer, “When a Rocket Launch Is a Cultural Event”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2016

alternative pre-game

1. not comparableTaking place before, or in preparation for, a sporting event or other game.

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

   2012 March 14, Andrew Cohen, “Will the Affordable Care Act Argument Be Worth the Hype?”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 10 Jun 2015

present singular third person pregames · participle present pregaming · participle past pregamed · past pregamed · alternative pre-game

1. intransitiveslangTo consume alcohol prior to an event.

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

   2019, Malcolm Gladwell, Talking to Strangers, page 195

   1 more example

   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[…]

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

   Synonyms: preload, pre-drink