PRE-EMPTION

n.[L. proe, before, and emptio, a buying; emo, to buy. ] The act of purchasing before others. 1. The right of purchasing before others. Prior discovery of unoccupied land gives the discoverer the prior right of occupancy. Prior discovery of land inhabited by savages is held to give the discoverer the pre-emption, or right of purchase before others.
2. Formerly, in England, the privilege or prerogative enjoyed by the king, of buying provisions for his household in preference to others, abolished by statute 19. Charles II.

pre-empt

pre-empt |priˈɛmpt | ▶verb [ with obj. ] 1 take action in order to prevent (an anticipated event ) happening; forestall: the government pre-empted a coup attempt. • act in advance of (someone ) in order to prevent them doing something: it looked as if she'd ask him more, but Parr pre-empted her. 2 acquire or appropriate (something ) in advance: many tables were already pre-empted by family parties. • N. Amer. occupy (public land ) so as to have a pre-emptive right to buy it before others. 3 [ no obj. ] Bridge make a pre-emptive bid. ▶noun Bridge a pre-emptive bid. DERIVATIVES pre-emptor noun ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: back-formation from pre-emption .

pre-emption

pre-emption |priˈɛmpʃn | ▶noun [ mass noun ] 1 the purchase of goods or shares by one person or party before the opportunity is offered to others: the commission had the right of pre-emption. • historical, chiefly N. Amer. & Austral. /NZ the right to purchase public land before the opportunity is offered to others. 2 the action of pre-empting or forestalling, especially of making a pre-emptive attack: damaging retaliation for any attempt at pre-emption. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from medieval Latin praeemptio (n- ), from the verb praeemere, from prae ‘in advance ’ + emere ‘buy ’.

pre-emptive

pre-emptive |priˈɛmptɪv | ▶adjective serving or intended to pre-empt or forestall something, especially to prevent attack by disabling the enemy: a pre-emptive strike. • relating to the purchase of goods or shares by one person or party before the opportunity is offered to others: pre-emptive rights. • Bridge denoting a bid, typically an opening bid, intended to be so high that it prevents or interferes with effective bidding by the opponents. DERIVATIVES pre-emptively adverb

pre-empt

pre-empt verb 1 he seized on the claims, determined to preempt any political criticism of his government: forestall, prevent; steal a march on, anticipate, get in before; informal get one's retaliation in first. 2 many tables were already pre-empted by family parties: commandeer, take possession of, occupy, seize, arrogate, appropriate, take over, take, acquire, secure, reserve.