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keep at bay

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.
keep something/somebody at bay
to prevent something or someone unpleasant from coming too near you or harming you If we can keep the rabbits at bay, we should have a good crop of vegetables in the garden. For me, overeating is a way of keeping my feelings at bay.
See also: bay, keep

keep somebody at bay also hold somebody at bay
to prevent someone from moving closer He held the police at bay with a gun for several hours.
See also: bay, keep

keep something at bay also hold something at bay

to control something and prevent it from causing you problems She fought to keep her unhappiness at bay. In the garden, there's no security system to keep the rabbits at bay. Experts hope the economy will slow enough to keep inflation at bay.
See also: bay, keep


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Attaching and following a human is the one way she can keep at bay the blackness and cold that threaten to envelop her.
All this is bound to introduce rigidities that would keep at bay the growth processes that work through a shift of resources from a set of activities in one region to another set of activities in another region.
Both were diagnosed with autism when they were just 22 months old, and they each spend several hours a week in physical, social and speech therapy to keep at bay the silent withdrawal often associated with the disease.
 
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