1. people who acquire rights to something, especially land, by preemption; those who act to prevent others from obtaining something by taking action first
Usage: legal; historical

Examples

• The preemptors filed their claims at the land office before anyone else could stake the territory.
• Early preemptors in the American West often faced challenges from later settlers.
• The government recognized the rights of preemptors who had cultivated the land for several years.
• These preemptors established homesteads under the Preemption Act of 1841.
• Local preemptors organized to defend their claims against competing interests.