From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhead off phrasal verb1 LEAVE A PLACEto leave to go to another place I’m heading off now.2 head something ↔ offPREVENT to prevent something from happening, especially something bad The president intervened to head off the conflict.3 head somebody ↔ offSTOP MOVING to stop someone going somewhere by moving in front of them Soldiers headed them off at the border. → head→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
head off• We managed to head off a financial crisis last year, but we may not be so lucky this year.• They agreed to meet government ministers in an attempt to head off a major conflict.From Longman Business Dictionaryhead something → off phrasal verb [transitive] to take action to prevent something bad from happeningThe country needs to find oil in time to head off a serious energy crisis. → head→ See Verb table 