ward off
verb
Forms wards off warding off warded off
- verb (transitive) To parry, or turn aside. “He raised his arms to ward off the attack.”
- verb (lacrosse) To, while in possession of the ball, move the free hand or the hand and arm holding the butt end of the stick laterally into a defending player's body or stick.
- verb (transitive) To avert or prevent. “He wore garlic to ward off vampires.”
Synonyms
debar forefend forfend obviate deflect avert head off stave off fend off avoid
Etymology
Cognate with German aufwarten, Middle High German ūfwarten, Luxembourgish ofwaarden.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “ward off”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details