Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

instruction prefetch
     
         A technique which attempts to minimise the time
        a {processor} spends waiting for {instructions} to be fetched
        from memory.  Instructions following the one currently being
        executed are loaded into a prefetch queue when the processor's
        {external bus} is otherwise idle.  If the processor executes a
        {branch} instruction or receives an {interrupt} then the queue
        must be flushed and reloaded from the new address.
     
        Instruction prefetch is often combined with {pipelining} in
        an attempt to keep the pipeline busy.
     
        By 1995 most processors used prefetching, e.g. {Motorola
        680x0}, {Intel 80x86}.
     
        [First processors using prefetch?]
     
        (1998-03-29)