forestaller
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fore·stall
(fôr-stôl′)tr.v. fore·stalled, fore·stall·ing, fore·stalls
1.
a. To delay, hinder, or prevent (an event, for example) by taking action beforehand: "rehabilitative care, where the goal is not so much to cure disease as it is to forestall further decline" (George Anders). See Synonyms at prevent.
b. To delay, hinder, or prevent (someone) from doing something by taking action beforehand.
2. To prevent or hinder normal sales in (a market), as by buying up merchandise.
[Middle English forestallen, to waylay and rob, from forestal, highway robbery, ambush, from Old English foresteall : fore-, fore- + steall, position; see stel- in Indo-European roots.]
fore·stall′er n.
fore·stall′ment n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.