stave off

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to avert or hold off (something undesirable or harmful), esp temporarily

   to stave off hunger

Idioms and Phrases

Keep or hold away, repel, as in The Federal Reserve Board is determined to stave off inflation. This metaphoric expression transfers beating something off with a staff or stave to nonphysical repulsion. [c. 1600]

Example Sentences

Then, after giving up five runs in four frames in Game 2 of the ALCS, he bounced back with a 5 ⅔-inning, two-run performance in Game 6 that helped Toronto stave off elimination.

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Rohl, who left Sheffield Wednesday by mutual consent in the summer, twice staved off relegation with the embattled South Yorkshire club.

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Even after one devastating elbow surgery, then another, he staved off any suggestion of giving up pitching.

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If another storm arrives in the next few weeks it could stave off the wildfire season even further, Ralph said.

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Big Tech companies are defending their turf, also spending hundreds of billions to stave off irrelevance in the AI age.

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