From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstave something ↔ off phrasal verb (past tense and past participle staved)PREVENTto keep someone or something from reaching you or affecting you for a period of time She brought some fruit on the journey to stave off hunger. → stave→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
stave off• Panic and anger both are rising in me, but I try to stave them off.• The manager can manipulate some things to stave that off, but pop music is about being popular.• The longer you stave that off, the less time you will spend building fatigue toxins.stave off hunger• The catch was welcome, but more to vary our diet than stave off hunger.From Longman Business Dictionarystave something → off phrasal verb [transitive] to prevent something bad from happening or affecting you for a short period of timeThe company is restructuring in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy. → stave→ See Verb table 