Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sooner \Soon"er\, n.
   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 : WordNet®

sooner
     adv 1: comparatives of `soon' or `early'; "Come a little sooner, if
            you can"; "came earlier than I expected" [syn: {earlier}]
     2: more readily or willingly; "clean it well, preferably with
        warm water"; "I'd rather be in Philadelphia"; "I'd sooner
        die than give up" [syn: {preferably}, {rather}]