stave off en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
-
(idiomatic) To prevent something from happening; to obviate or avert.
[Enid] answer'd with such craft as women use, / Guilty or guiltless, to stave off a chance / That breaks upon them perilously, […]
1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 64:LANCE: Only through my training as a sex machine am I able to stave off genital turgidity.
2011, Jamie Noguchi, Yellow Peril: The View:So it was perhaps political backlash from the trebling of public transport times between Harlech to Porthmadog if buses took over that staved off immediate talks of closure and the release of a £241,000 subsidy (2020: £3.8m).
2020 April 8, Howard Johnston, “East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail, page 69:He drank plenty of orange juice, hoping to stave off the cold making the rounds at the office.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| staves off | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| staving off | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| stove off | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| stove off | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| staved off | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| staved off | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Translations (25)
ar رَدَّ (prevent something from happening) · pl zapobiegać (prevent something from happening) · fr éviter (prevent something from happening) · ar صَدَّ (prevent something from happening) · az qarşısını almaq (prevent something from happening) · de abwehren (prevent something from happening) · nl afweren (prevent something from happening) · pl zażegnywać (prevent something from happening) · pl zażegnać (prevent something from happening) · es atajar (prevent something from happening) · ru предотвращать (prevent something from happening) · cs odvrátit (prevent something from happening) · fi pitää loitolla (prevent something from happening) · es evitar (prevent something from happening) · fr conjurer (prevent something from happening) · sv mota bort (prevent something from happening) · de abwenden (prevent something from happening) · cs odvracet (prevent something from happening) · es obviar (prevent something from happening) · es prevenir (prevent something from happening) · de verhindern (prevent something from happening) · it prevenire (prevent something from happening) · es impedir (prevent something from happening) · sv avvärja (prevent something from happening) · fi torjua (prevent something from happening)