PREOC'CUPANCY, noun [Latin proeoccupans.] 1. The act of taking possession before another. The property of unoccupied land is vested by preoccupancy 2. The right of taking possession before others. The first discoverer of unoccupied land has the preoccupancy of it, by the law of nature and nations.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI