pre-emptiveadj.n.
/ˌpriːˈɛm(p)tɪv/, /prɪˈɛm(p)tɪv/, U.S. /priˈɛm(p)tɪv/, Australian English /priˈem(p)tɪv/, New Zealand English /priˈem(p)tɪv/ A. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or designating a purchase (of land, etc.) by one person or party before the opportunity is offered to others. pre-emptive right n. (a) the right to purchase something before it is offered to others; (b) figurative and in extended use, a right to acquire something before the opportunity is offered to others; (c) Australian and New Zealand (now historical) land acquired by the exercise of such a right.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > [adjective] > relating to pre-emption
pre-emptive1795
pre-emptory1796
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > [noun] > pre-emptive right
pre-emptive right1828
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > real or immovable property > land > estate obtained otherwise than by inheritance > land obtained by pre-emption
pre-emption1729
pre-emptive right1828
1795 Deb. Congr. U.S. 29 Jan. (1849) 1154 The state had a right more positive than the pre-emptive one, to lands actually occupied and defended by hostile tribes of Indians.
1828 Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pa.) 16 Apr. The Stockholders of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company have all availed themselves of their pre-emptive right to double the number of shares held by them, respectively.
1850 J. C. Frémont Let. c24 Dec. in D. Jackson & M. L. Spence Exped. J. C. Frémont (1984) III. 217 The bill contains beneficial provisions in favor of first discoverers [of a mine]; they are to have double quantity without the payment of any fee, and with the privilege of a preemptive right.
1855 P. J. Bailey Mystic (ed. 2) 19 Daily endowed with spheres and astral thrones, His, by preëmptive right, throughout all time.
1872 J. Yeats Growth Commerce 140 Subject to pre-emptive reservations.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 250 This occupation gave the selectors a legal right to about six thousand acres of ‘pre-emptive right’.
1944 C. C. Mau Devel. Central & W. New York 68 Enterprising men quickly sensed the opportunity of making substantial profits by purchasing the pre-ëmptive rights of Massachusetts.
1976 I. M. Lewis Social Anthropol. in Perspective v. 136 Amongst the Coorgs, a man has a pre-emptive right to marry his cross-cousin, a right which he often waives.
1981 R. Pinney Early N. Otago Runs 70 There was a house and woolshed on a pre-emptive right.
1991 T. Pakenham Scramble for Afr. vii 114 He put up a straw man..who possessed English nationality and claimed a pre-emptive right, as a neighbouring landowner, to buy the Enfida.
2. Bridge. Of a bid, esp. an opening bid: intended to be high enough to prevent opponents from bidding normally, and thus from being able to secure a suitable contract or from obtaining information about the cards they hold.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [adjective] > system of bidding > types of bidding
pre-emptive1913
takeout1914
shut-out1916
artificial1927
rebiddable1930
strength-showing1930
one-over-one1931
psychic1932
game-forcing1933
redoubled1954
responsive1956
multi-purpose1972
multicoloured1976
multi1977
1913 F. Irwin Auction High-lights 95 A preëmptive opening-bid in a major suit means that the bidder wants no information and wishes to play the hand at his own suit.
1947 S. Harris Fund. Princ. Contract Bridge i. i. 17 The most valuable pre-emptive bid..is an opening bid of four of a major suit or five of a major suit.
1998 Eng. Bridge Apr. 19/3 Now you can bid 2♥ as a raise or 3♥ as a pre-emptive raise.
3. Military. Of an offensive strategy or action: intended to forestall an enemy attack; frequently in pre-emptive strike (now frequently figurative).In technical use sometimes more narrowly defined: see quot. 1966.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > attack > [adjective] > other types of attack
feigned1598
overvaulting1879
frontal1884
tip-and-run1891
hit and run1940
pre-emptive1941
banzai1945
surgical1965
kamikaze1966
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > anticipation, forecast > [adjective] > that forecasts or anticipates
forecasting1548
foreguessing1548
pre-emptive1966
1941 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 26 Jan. This change of thought..is caused by the conviction that Hitler must attempt a pre-emptive move to counter the possibility of American intervention.
1958 H. S. Dinerstein in Foreign Affairs 36 249 It was precisely this need to prepare for more than deterrence and to prepare against surprise nuclear attack that was spelled out for the first time in Marshal Rotmistrov's article, published in February 1955... Rotmistrov stated that the Soviet Union must be ready to strike a preëmptive or forestalling blow, in case the United States was about to attack.
1959 H. S. Dinerstein War & Soviet Union vi. 193 In this statement Rotmistrov added two new facets to the doctrine of the pre-emptive strike.
1966 U. Schwarz & L. Hadik Strategic Terminol. 108 Pre-emptive strike, armed attack motivated by the conviction that an enemy attack is under way or is irreversibly imminent. Also called ‘forestalling blow’ or ‘anticipatory attack’, the pre-emptive strike differs from a so-called ‘preventive’ strike or war in that [etc.]. A strike or war..is preventive if the enemy still has the option of desisting from his planned aggression.
1967 Times 17 July 8/4 Some of them..are making a pre-emptive strike against the Chancellor before the decisions have been finally hammered out.
1989 G. T. Couser Altered Egos v. 88 The author can deploy selfparody as a kind of preemptive strike against the forgery of his style.
1991 Pacific Rev. 4 208 The SAF must aim to disable their Malaysian counterparts with a brutal and fearless pre-emptive strike.
2003 P. Todd & J. Bloch Global Issues vii. 178 The PNA promised to..‘undertake pre-emptive operations against terrorists’.
B. n. Australian and New Zealand. Now historical.
A pre-emptive right; land acquired by this.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > [noun] > purchase before others are offered the chance > pre-emption of land > right of
pre-emption right1779
pre-emptive1863
1863 C. W. Richmond Let. 20 Apr. in Richmond–Atkinson Papers (1960) II. 37 It seems..that there must be a station of some sort at the place where preemptive is applied for.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 321 They've got, what with their selections and pre-emptives, a tidy slice..of Rainbar run.
1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. ii. 26 In eighteen months nearly all the run except the pre-emptives had gone.
1981 N. Crawford Station Years 126 Another four acres were to be planted on the ‘Pre-emptive’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1795