hold off

See also: holdoff

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

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Verb

hold off (third-person singular simple present holds off, present participle holding off, simple past and past participle held off)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To delay someone or something temporarily; to keep at bay.

   Let's try to hold off the lawyers until we are ready for them.

   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

     The breakthrough came after 63 minutes as United’s unorthodox defence desperately tried to hold off a spell of sustained pressure.

2. (idiomatic, transitive) To delay commencing (an action until some specified time or event has passed).

   Hold off the decision one more day so I can answer your question.

   Hold off baking until I get there.

3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To delay commencing an action (until some specified time or event has passed).

   Hold off on baking until I get there.

Related terms

• hold up
• hold it
• forhold

Translations

to delay someone or something

• Dutch: tegenhouden (nl)
• Italian: ritardare (it)
• Polish: odroczyć (pl)
• Portuguese: deter (pt), reter (pt), segurar (pt)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: откла́дывать (ru) (otkládyvatʹ)
• Spanish: posponer (es), retrasar (es)

to delay commencing

• Italian: posporre (it)
• Portuguese: deter (pt), segurar (pt)
• Russian: откла́дывать (ru) (otkládyvatʹ)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: posponer (es)

To delay commencing an action

• Italian: attendere (it)
• Russian: откла́дывать (ru) (otkládyvatʹ)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: posponer (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} Biða með það
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• offhold