I.to buy before or beforehand (ante - class.): “praemercatur ancillam senex,” Plaut. Merc. Arg. 2, 10; id. Ep. 3, 3, 25: ni pretio minus parcerent, eaque praemercarentur, should forestall the markets, Cass. Hem. ap. Plin. 32, 2, 10, § 20.
prae-mercor , ātus, 1, v. dep.,