Rehearsing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Engaging in repeated practice of a performance or activity to improve skill and readiness
2. The act of going over actions or parts of a performance multiple times to prepare for presentation
3. Performing preparatory practice to ensure smooth execution during an actual event or show

Etymology: "Rehearsing" is the present participle of "rehearse," which entered Middle English as "rehersen," borrowed from Anglo-Norman "reherser," meaning to repeat word for word. The Anglo-Norman verb was itself built from "herser," to harrow, a farming term for dragging a frame with spikes over ploughed ground to break up clods and level the soil. The image is one of going back over the same ground again and again. The verb's core sense of repeating something aloud or going over it once more carried into the theatre, where actors go over their lines and movements before a performance. The stage sense is what the word now mostly means, so the agricultural origin survives only in the idea of working the same patch repeatedly.

Synonyms: practicing, repeating, drilling, reciting