An archaic spelling and variant of 'forestall,' meaning to prevent something before it happens or to intercept.
From Old English 'for-' (before) + 'stall' (a standing place, position). The word evolved from describing physically blocking a position to preventing actions abstractly.
This variant spelling shows how spelling wasn't standardized in Middle English—you'd see 'forstall' and 'forestall' used interchangeably by scribes, before modern dictionaries fixed one version as correct.
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