stave off

English

Verb

stave off (third-person singular simple present staves off, present participle staving off, simple past and past participle staved off)

1. (idiomatic) to prevent something from happening; to obviate or avert
   • 2011, Jamie Noguchi, Yellow Peril: The View

     LANCE: Only through my training as a sex machine am I able to stave off genital turgidity.

   He drank plenty of orange juice, hoping to stave off the cold making the rounds at the office.

Translations