forestall Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb keep from happening or arising; make impossible
    forbid; prevent; preclude; foreclose.
    • My sense of tact forbids an honest answer
    • Your role in the projects precludes your involvement in the competitive project
  2. verb act in advance of; deal with ahead of time
    anticipate; counter; foresee.

WordNet

Fore*stall" transitive verb
Etymology
OE. forstallen to stop, to obstruct; to stop (goods) on the way to the market by buying them beforehand, from forstal obstruction, AS. forsteal, foresteall, prop., a placing one's self before another. See Fore, and Stall.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Forestalled ; present participle & verbal noun Forestalling
Definitions
  1. To take beforehand, or in advance; to anticipate.
    What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid? Milton.
  2. To take possession of, in advance of some one or something else, to the exclusion or detriment of the latter; to get ahead of; to preoccupy; also, to exclude, hinder, or prevent, by prior occupation, or by measures taken in advance.
    An ugly serpent which forestalled their way. Fairfax.
    But evermore those damsels did forestall Their furious encounter. Spenser.
    To be forestalled ere we come to fall. Shak.
    Habit is a forestalled and obstinate judge. Rush.
  3. To deprive; -- with of. R.
    All the better; may This night forestall him of the coming day! Shak.
  4. (Eng. Law) To obstruct or stop up, as a way; to stop the passage of on highway; to intercept on the road, as goods on the way to market. Burrill. Syn. -- To anticipate; monopolize; engross.

Webster 1913