What would Shakespeare have meant in using the word prevent? How is that meaning different from today's use?

Shakespeare used the word "prevent" in his works to "anticipate" something. This is different from the way we use that word today, since for us "preventing" means "preventing" something from happening.

Explanation:

As you may already know, the English language has the ability to change over time, as do most languages. Furthermore, Sahkespeare was a writer who liked to explore words, often using them in unusual ways and who sound different than what we know about the word. An example of this is the word "prevent", which Shakespeare always uses in the sense of "anticipating". An example of this can be seen in "Hamlet", where Shakespeare wrote "the hatch and disclose will be some danger; which for to prevent ..."

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