WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Soon"er
Part of Speech : n.
Definition : Defn: In the western United States, one who settles on government land before it is legally open to settlement in order to gain the prior claim that the law gives to the first settler when the land is opened to settlement; hence, any one who does a thing prematurely or anticipates another in acting in order to gain an unfair advantage.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913