Forestalling

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Forestall \Fore*stall"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Forestalled}; p.
     pr. & vb. n. {Forestalling}.] [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}.]


     1. To take beforehand, or in advance; to anticipate.
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              What need a man forestall his date of grief,
              And run to meet what he would most avoid? --Milton.
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     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.
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              An ugly serpent which forestalled their way.
                                                    --Fairfax.
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              But evermore those damsels did forestall
              Their furious encounter.              --Spenser.
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              To be forestalled ere we come to fall. --Shak.
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              Habit is a forestalled and obstinate judge. --Rush.
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     3. To deprive; -- with of. [R.]
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              All the better; may
              This night forestall him of the coming day! --Shak.
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     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.
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     {To forestall the market}, to buy or contract for merchandise
        or provision on its way to market, with the intention of
        selling it again at a higher price; to dissuade persons
        from bringing their goods or provisions there; or to
        persuade them to enhance the price when there. This was an
        offense at law in England until 1844. --Burrill.
  
     Syn: To anticipate; monopolize; engross.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  forestalling
       n : the act of preventing something by anticipating and
           disposing of it effectively [syn: {obviation}, {preclusion}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  86 Moby Thesaurus words for "forestalling":
     agape, agog, all agog, anticipant, anticipating, anticipative,
     anticipatory, arrestation, avoidance, avoiding reaction, awaiting,
     certain, circumvention, confident, debarment, defense mechanism,
     determent, deterrence, deterrent, deterring, discouragement,
     discouraging, dodge, duck, eager, elusion, elusiveness,
     equivocation, escape, estoppel, evasion, evasive action,
     evasiveness, expectant, expecting, forbearance, forbiddance,
     forbidding, forearmed, foreclosure, forestallment, forewarned,
     gaping, getting around, halt, hopeful, in anticipation,
     in expectation, jink, looking for, looking forward to, neutrality,
     nonintervention, noninvolvement, not surprised, obviation,
     optimistic, preclusion, preclusive, prepared, preventative,
     prevention, preventive, prohibition, prohibitive, prophylactic,
     ready, refraining, sanguine, shunning, shunting off, shy, sidestep,
     sidetracking, slip, stay, stop, stoppage, stopping, sure,
     the runaround, unsurprised, waiting, waiting for, watching for,
     zigzag
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  FORESTALLING, crim. law. Every practice or device, by act, conspiracy, 
  words, or news, to enhance the price of victuals or other provisions. 3 
  Inst. 196; Bac. Ab. h.t.; 1 Russ. Cr. 169; 4 Bl. Com. 158. 
       2. All endeavors whatever to enhance the common price of any 
  merchandise, and all kinds of practices which have that tendency, whether by 
  spreading false rumors, or buying things in a market before the accustomed 
  hour, are offences at common law, and come under the notion of forestalling, 
  which includes all kind of offences of this nature. Hawk. P. C. b. 1 c. 8 0, 
  s. 1. Vide 13 Vin. Ab. 430; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; 4 Com. Dig. 391 1 East, 
  Rep. 132.