What does "preparation" mean?

Additional senses

1. 2.That which makes ready, prepares the way, or introduces; a preparatory act or measure. I will show what preparations there were in nature for this dissolution. T. Burnet.
2. 3.That which is prepared, made, or compounded by a certain process or for a particular purpose; a combination. Specifically: (a) Any medicinal substance fitted for use. (b) Anything treated for preservation or examination as a specimen. (c) Something prepared for use in cookery. I wish the chemists had been more sparing who magnify their preparations. Sir T. Browne. In the preparations of cookery, the most volatile parts of vegetables are destroyed. Arbuthnot.
3. 4.An army or fleet. [Obs.] Shak.
4. 5.(Mus.) The holding over of a note from one chord into the next chord, where it forms a temporary discord, until resolved in the chord that follows; the anticipation of a discordant note in the preceding concord, so that the ear is prepared for the shock. See Suspension.
5. 6.Accomplishment; qualification. [Obs.] Shak.