Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-VENT', v.t. [L. prævenio, præ, before, and venio, to come; It. prevenire; Sp. and Fr. prevenir.]

1. To hinder; to stop or intercept the approach, access, or performance of a thing. Foresight and care will prevent many ills and misfortunes in human life. Religion supplies consolation under afflictions which can not be prevented. It is often easier to prevent evils, than to remedy them. [The following significations of the word, formerly used, are obsolete.]
2. To go before; to precede. – Ps. cxix, 148.
3. To take hold on; to seize. – Job xxx, 16.
4. To succor. Ps. lix, 10, and Common Prayer.
5. To anticipate. Their ready guilt preventing thy commands. – Pope.
6. To pre-occupy; to pre-engage. Thou hast prevented us with overtures of love. – K. Charles.