"I thought you'd hold him off for at least another couple of weeks."
Between us, we can hold them off for a long time.
So all we have to do is hold them off for two minutes.
The best we can do is hold him off for a while.
Then they decided to hold off for just a bit.
"We just have to hold them off for a few more minutes."
The extra one is in case he can hold off for a day.
He would need to hold them off for no more than a few minutes.
Let's hold off for a while and see what he says next.
"And I can hold them off for however long it takes you to bring help."