ward off

verb

1. To parry, or turn aside.

   “He raised his arms to ward off the attack.”

   “Door guards are a detail that can be added readily to almost any garage door for the purpose of protecting the door from being broken off the hinges or for the protection that is afforded the customers of the garage. The simplest form of these are inclined slides for warding off the front or rear wheels of the entering car.”

2. To, while in possession of the ball, move the free hand or the hand and arm holding the butt end of the stick laterally into a defending player's body or stick.
3. To avert or prevent.

   “He wore garlic to ward off vampires.”

   “Group 2, the never or prophylactic group, was also small compared with group 1. Iodine lockets, string shirts, underwear made of special material such as flannel (particularly red), sheep wool, angora wool, clothes made of modern synthetic fibres, and so on, would ward off arthritis.”