Definition of "at bay" []

• Unable to come closer; at a distance. (phrase)
• Cornered; unable to flee. (phrase)

Wiktionary.org : Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

• "The Hamptons were too sprawling to defend but Montauk was on a narrow peninsula that could be plugged at any number of places, a half-mile bottleneck between Napeague Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean, for example, where you could pile burned-out buses and stretch razor wire and position rapid-fire weapons to keep at bay the starving mad million hordes to the west."
• "It was a revolt that absorbed southern Italy, caught Rome with its homeland virtually defenseless, led to nine defeats of Roman armies, and kept antiquitys greatest military power at bay for two years."
• "In the meantime, General Anthony Wayne was to keep Knyphausen at bay with the American center at the ford, and General Greene was to hold himself ready with the reserve to give aid wherever required."