fend off

English

Etymology

fend + off

Verb

fend off (third-person singular simple present fends off, present participle fending off, simple past and past participle fended off)

1. To defend against; to repel with force or effort

   Synonyms: turn away, drive away, ward off

   They tried citronella to fend off the mosquitos, to no avail.

   • 2024 April 27, Alastair Telfer, “England beat France to seal Grand Slam hat-trick”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     France spent large portions of the opening half in England territory and despite scoring the pick of the first-half tries - when Menager fended off Jess Breach to finish off a superb backs move - struggled to convert their chances.

2. (nautical) To prevent (a vessel) from running against anything with too much violence.

Related terms

• defend
• defense
• fend and prove
• fend away
• fender
• fend for oneself
• forfend

 

Translations

to ward off, drive (something) away, defend against

• Azerbaijani: dəf etmək
• Finnish: torjua (fi)
• French: repousser (fr)
• German: abwehren (de)
• Greek: αβαράρω (el) (avaráro)
• Portuguese: repelir (pt), afastar (pt)
• Spanish: repeler (es), ahuyentar (es), alejar (es)
• Turkish: defetmek (tr), kovmak (tr), savuşturmak (tr)

See also

• hold off