standing off

Verb

stand off (third-person singular simple present stands off, present participle standing off, simple past and past participle stood off)

1. To stand some distance apart from something or someone.
   • He stood off from the fire, for fear of getting scorched.
2. (US) To prevent any would-be attacker from coming close by adopting an offensive posture.
   • We took hold of anything that might serve as a weapon to stand off the menacing group of young men.
3. (dated) To move away from shore.
   • Here were ſome marks of the ſavages along the ſhore ; for the ſhip ſtood off and on a good way down ; but no drift-wood, beaſts or fiſh were found, nor any thing uſeful except a few fowls, one of which they shot.1768, Edward Cavendish Drake, A New Universal Collection of Authentic Voyages and Travels, page 321