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head off

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Verb

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head off (third-person singular simple present heads off, present participle heading off, simple past and past participle headed off)

  1. (intransitive) To begin moving away.
    We will head off on our holidays tomorrow.
  2. (transitive) To intercept.
    Synonym: cut off
    The cavalry will head off the bandits at the pass.
    • 1978 February 11, Donald Cameron Scot, “Controversy and Boycott Must Continue”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 31, page 5:
      Spurred by her early successes and lack of reprisal, AB has now gone beyond her original stance against gays as teachers and is now advocating a federal law to outlaw gays [] And she just may succeed if we do not move now in a way that we have never moved, to head her off.
  3. (transitive) To avoid the undesirable consequences of; to prevent.
    The government took steps to head off summertime shortages of gasoline.
    • 2017 February 27, Mure Dickie, Henry Mance, “Theresa May’s speech to head off Scottish independence poll”, in Financial Times[1]:
      Theresa May will use a speech to the Scottish Conservative conference on Friday to try to head off growing nationalists’ demands for a second independence referendum.
    • 2023 June 9, Sam Jones, “Podemos and leftist alliance Sumar agree to run jointly in Spain’s snap election”, in The Guardian[2], →ISSN:
      Although the deal, announced hours before the deadline for registering coalitions expired, is intended to head off a split vote and to galvanise leftwing voters against the conservative People’s party (PP), which is leading the polls, there are enduring differences and tensions between Podemos and Sumar.
  4. (intransitive) To start out.
  5. (nautical) To turn away from the wind.

Derived terms

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Translations

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