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fend off

verb — 2 senses

fend off

verb

Etymology fend + off

1

To defend against; to repel with force or effort

  • They tried citronella to fend off the mosquitos, to no avail.
  • 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.2024 April 27, Alastair Telfer, “England beat France to seal Grand Slam hat-trick”, in BBC Sport:
2

Nautical, Transport 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, hold off

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.