put off

A shift for evasion or delay; an evasion; an excuse. L'Estrange.

Delay or postpone, as in He always puts off paying his bills. This idiom, dating from the late 1300s, gave rise to the proverb Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, first recorded in the late 1300s (in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee) and repeated ever since. Also see put one off.

Definition: defer, delay
Antonyms: accomplish, achieve, carry out, do, succeed

The verb has 5 meanings:

Meaning #1: hold back to a later time
  Synonyms: postpone, prorogue, hold over, put over, table, shelve, set back, defer, remit

Meaning #2: cause to feel intense dislike or distaste
  Synonyms: piss off, turn off

Meaning #3: take away the enthusiasm of
  Synonym: dishearten

Meaning #4: cause to feel embarrassment
  Synonyms: confuse, flurry, disconcert

Meaning #5: avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
  Synonyms: hedge, fudge, evade, circumvent, parry, elude, skirt, dodge, duck, sidestep