From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishscare somebody/something ↔ off/away phrasal verb1 FRIGHTENEDto make an animal or person go away by frightening them She moved quietly to avoid scaring the birds away.2 PREVENTto make someone uncertain or worried so that they do not do something they were going to do Rising prices are scaring off many potential customers. → scare→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
scare off/away• But I had not scared her off.• I hoped my thoughts would broadcast hatred and loathing enough to scare them away.• Still in his pyjamas Brian switched on the fountain, and the sudden spurt of water scared the bird away.• The owl light had obviously scared him off.• The trick is for the 49ers to offer a front-loaded multiyear deal that will scare the Giants off.• The local police chief had scared him off by threatening to arrest him for manslaughter if Annie perished.• They got scared and ran away with their tail between their legs.• The bully may even try to scare you off with yet more verbal and physical threats. 