Ward off with shortened sword held by both hands (5)
I believe the answer is:
repel
'ward off' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'shortened sword held by both hands' is the wordplay.
'shortened' means to remove the last letter.
'sword' becomes 'epee' (epee is a kind of sword).
'held by' indicates putting letters inside.
'both hands' becomes 'rl' (**).
'epee' with its last letter taken away is 'epe'.
'epe' put within 'rl' is 'REPEL'.
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for repel that I've seen before include "Drive back or disgust" , "Fend off" , "Be impervious to" , "Spurn" , "Nauseate" .)