stave

Related to stave: stave off

stave in

To crush or cause something to cave in; to smash through something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "stave" and "in." He staved in the crate with a large rock to access the supplies inside. We'll have to stave the door in if we want to get inside.
See also: stave

stave off

To defend against or keep someone or something at bay; to delay something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "stave" and "off." He's been trying to scrounge up money so that he can stave off his creditors for a while longer. An old trick is to suck on a pebble to stave your thirst off.
See also: off, stave
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

stave someone or something off

to hold someone or something off; to defend against the attack of someone or something. (See also stave something off.) The citizen was not able to stave the mugger off. The army staved off the attackers for three hours without letup.
See also: off, stave

stave something in

to crush something in. (The past tense is usually stove with ships, and otherwise, staved.) The rocks on the reef staved the hull of the ship in. The angry sailor staved in the cask of rum.
See also: stave

stave something off

to delay or postpone something unwanted, such as hunger, foreclosure, death, etc. (See also stave someone or something off.) He could stave his thirst off no longer. Despite the enemy sentries, he made a dash for the stream. The lost hiker could not stave off her hunger any longer.
See also: off, stave
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

stave off

Keep or hold away, repel, as in The Federal Reserve Board is determined to stave off inflation. This metaphoric expression transfers beating something off with a staff or stave to nonphysical repulsion. [c. 1600]
See also: off, stave
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

stave in

v.
To break or smash a hole in something: The firefighters staved the door in. I staved in the barrel with an axe.
See also: stave

stave off

v.
To keep or hold someone or something off; repel someone or something: I staved the attackers off with my umbrella. Health officials are trying to stave off an outbreak of disease.
See also: off, stave
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • add in
  • all right
  • a/the feel of (something)
  • (I) wouldn't (do something) if I were you
  • a straw will show which way the wind blows
  • a crack at (someone or something)
  • (you) wanna make something of it?
  • all for the best
  • a thing of the past
  • a slew of (something)
References in periodicals archive
His father, he said, is a civil engineer working for Milwaukee County, and Stave grew up watching his dad do projects around the house.
Stave spikes NFL career, turns to construction
"We demoed about 10 songs and then asked ourselves, 'Are we actually just making a record?"' says Emily, adding that Vernon seemed equally unsure whether he was, in fact, producing The Staves' second album or not.
Staving off the blues; Sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla, better known as The Staves, are hitting the road this month with their new album. Andy Welch finds out all about one of 2015's best records
"By cutting the exact right angle for every individual stave, we have a much cleaner fitting barrel and a much tighter barrel," says Combs.
New stave jointers raise 'spirits': a new process for building whiskey barrels leads to Jack Daniel's cooperage winning a Wooden Globe for innovator of the year
The stave church retains some of the basilica in often having a choir and apse, the sanctuary, separated from the main body, the nave, but there is also an additional transformation of "holy place" and "site of rescue" into the tree language of the north as well, with a shorter more square nave and powerful staves to facilitate a vertical extension.
Yggorasil and the stave church
Module for generating staves is served as the simplified interface for creating musical staves for the quiz module and for the presentation of given expressions on the web.
Modules of music learning management system
It should do so with a view to making its economy more competitive to stave off the Chinese challenge as well as to raising its dismally low savings and investment rates.
Cry for Latin America: those narrow sovereign debt spreads and booming stock markets have been a mirage
Staves are always of five lines and, with very few exceptions, are ruled with vermilion ink.
Toledo cathedral's collection of manuscript plainsong choirbooks: a preliminary report and checklist
The Magic Staves by French cooperage Le Grand are the same ones the company uses to produce barrels but meant to be used as tank inserts.
Oak Barrel Alternatives: Suppliers seek to provide greater precision in alternative oak products
Caption: The bead and cove joinery allows the tub staves to act as hinges.
DIY Wood-Fired HOT TUB
When the American White Oak casks' work at the Distillery is done, their staves are shipped from Scotland back to the USA to Renovo's workshop in Oregon.
Glenmorangie and Renovo launch bikes made from whisky casks
Indications that appear inside the staves such as poco rit.
Accent on Solos Complete: 33 Pieces
nglish sisters The Staves have been performing together in public since they were teenagers.
SISTERS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES; The Big Interview With CATHAL AUSTIN SUCCESS OF ENGLISH FOLK TRIO THE STAVES IS DOWN TO THEIR UNIQUE INDIVIDUALITY
The matured whiskey is aged a second time with staves of toasted French oak to bring out bolder flavors with enhanced vanilla, oak and spice.
A taste of Maker's Mark Private Select bourbons
Some barrels were made from staves that were immersed in an enzyme rich bath with water heated to 100 degrees.
E. H. Taylor, JR. Seasoned Wood Bourbon