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Definition 2024


stave_off

stave off

English

Verb

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