Definition of "forestall"

forestall¹

/fɔː(ɹ)ˈstɔːl/

verb
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.
2. (transitive) To preclude or bar from happening, render impossible.
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.
  Quotations
  What need a man forestall his date of grief, / And run to meet what he would most avoid?
  1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903,
  She insisted on doing her share of the offices needful to the sick. She arranged his bed so that it was possible to change the sheet without disturbing him. She washed him. […] She did not speak to him much, but she was quick to forestall his wants.
  1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 26”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […]
5. To deprive (with of).
  Quotations
  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, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene v]
6. (UK, law) 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.

forestall²

/ˈfɔː(ɹ).stɔːl/

noun
plural forestalls
1. (obsolete or historical) An ambush; plot; an interception; waylaying; rescue.
2. Something situated or placed in front.

Definition of "forestall"

forestall1

verb

Quotations

Quotations

forestall2

noun

forestall¹

forestall²