forstall

Verb

forestall (third-person singular simple present forestalls, present participle forestalling, simple past and past participle forestalled)

1. (transitive) To prevent, delay or hinder something by taking precautionary or anticipatory measures; to avert.
   • Fred forestalled disaster by his prompt action.
2. (transitive) To preclude or bar from happening, render impossible.
   • In French, an aspired h forestalls elision.
3. (archaic) To purchase the complete supply of a good, particularly foodstuffs, in order to charge a monopoly price.
4. To anticipate, to act foreseeingly.
   • What need a man forestall his date of grief, / And run to meet what he would most avoid?1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey...
5. To deprive (with of).
   • All the better; may / This night forestall him of the coming day!1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
6. (UK) To obstruct or stop up, as a road; to stop the passage of a highway; to intercept on the road, as goods on the way to market.

See all 8 meanings of forestall