What does “abwehren” mean in German?

Abwehren means to fend off an attack, and it is a separable verb: Der Taucher wehrt die Haie ab (“The diver fends off the sharks”). It joins ab- (away) with wehren, “to defend.” Beyond fights, Germans wehren off criticism, colds, and requests. Sich wehren is “to defend yourself,” and in football die Abwehr is the defence line.

The news clip shows a diver off the coast of Florida using spearguns to keep three sharks at a distance. The Wehr root also sits in die Feuerwehr (literally “fire defence,” the fire brigade) and die Selbstverteidigung is the fancier synonym. When you see a separable verb in a news headline like this one, the prefix (ab) lands at the end of the clause, as in wehrt drei Haie ab.