From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhold off phrasal verb1 WAITto delay doing something Buyers have been holding off until the price falls.hold off (on) doing something Hold off making your decision until Monday.2 hold somebody ↔ offDEFEND a) to prevent someone who is trying to attack or defeat you from succeeding Not even a gun could hold him off forever. b) to prevent someone from coming towards you or succeeding in speaking to you There’s already a crowd of reporters outside – I’ll try to hold them off for a while.3 DNif rain or bad weather holds off, it does not start, although it looked as if it would The rain held off until after the game. → hold→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
hold off• At that point our troops were too weak to hold them off.• The bunkers were built on the cliffs to hold off the enemy's landing forces.hold off (on) doing something• Businesses are holding off on hiring new employees.• And while San Francisco Tomorrow has come out against the ballpark, other major environmental organizations have so far held off.• By holding off on both at least until next year, Clerides has created some diplomatic breathing space.• DiGenova said Starr may ask the jurors to hold off or limit their questioning.• For some of those years I had thought it might hold off the crack-up.• He had to keep dazzling the crowds to hold off his detractors.• I won't have to understand what has occurred if I hold off from consciously realizing that it has happened.• If Electronics had not held off its creditors, it would have collapsed, bringing Magnetics down with it.• Umbrellas could be made of oiled cloth, so that they did incidentally hold off the rain. 