From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfendfend /fend/ verb → fend for yourself → fend somebody/something off→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
fend• When your skin was young, it could fend for itself.• The raven was determined to fend off any potential threat and maintain its fiefdom of Edge Wood.• The new system was credited for fending off damage from major floods in 1996.• Nothing that we see in the park can quite fend off mythology.• That is why he manoeuvred frantically, and brilliantly, to fend off the challenge to his party leadership last month.Origin fend (1200-1300) defend 