qiǎng​xiān

be first

抢先 (搶先) qiǎng​xiān
be first verb
to rush to do something urgent or strive to be the first to act

Many viewers hurried to pre-order tickets for the premiere.

forestall verb
to act in advance of another to prevent an action or gain an advantage

To prevent the other party from backing out, he decided to strike first and sign the contract.

Frequency

Movie subtitles
2.50 per million appears in 1% of films
Written text
6.23 per million

Sources

Definitions
CC-CEDICT