foresnatch

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ snatch.

Verb

foresnatch (third-person singular simple present foresnatches, present participle foresnatching, simple past and past participle foresnatched)

1. (transitive, very rare, UK, dialectal) To snatch in advance.
   • 1803, Josiah Walker, The defence of order, a poem:

     Friends of the people! — glorious name, indeed, If these bestow, not you foresnatch, the meed — Your motive, not your means, the Muse admires, Whom kindred aims — congenial zeal inspires; [...]

   • 1825, Mac-Erin O'Tara (pseud.), Thomas Fitz-Gerald: the Lord of Offaley:

     [...] at once reach the objects of her infant admiration and draw them nearer to her eagerness, then ran with pouting lips to foresnatch her father's kisses.

   • 1847, Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine:

     Hoar Pindus, from his rocky barriers, Looks on thy ranks of gay-plumed warriors, And sees an ominous sight : The leafy tent for victory graced, Foresnatching fate with impious haste From gods that rule the fight.