1.
If you hold off doing something, you delay doing it or delay making a decision about it.
The hospital staff held off taking Rosenbaum in for an X-ray...
They have threatened military action but held off until now.
PHRASAL VERB : V P -ing , V P
2.
If you hold off a challenge in a race or competition, you do not allow someone to pass you.
Between 1987 and 1990, Steffi Graf largely held off Navratilova’s challenge for the crown.
PHRASAL VERB : V P n (not pron)