Can "hold on" be used to mean pausing the work being performed?

Question

http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-hold-on-or-hold-off/ says:

“hold on” is to wait, or grip while “hold off” is to postpone, cancel or stop an action.

So does "hold on" also mean pausing doing something by "wait"?

For example, someone is not aware of a special situation at work, starts performing a task, and the task is causing damages because of that special situation. You want to ask them to pause, so that you can fix that special situation before letting them continuing the task. Can you use "hold on", for example, "hold on from doing the task"?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I would say "hold off" is a bit more appropriate for this context.

"Hold on" is more to just generally wait, but here you're specifically wanting them to postpone their action for until the special situation is resolved, which aligns more to the usage of "hold off".

In the context of postponing, "hold on" can be used without explaining the action being postponed (e.g. "hold on, I'll be there soon!", which just means "wait" in general) where "hold off" needs to name or imply what exactly is being postponed (e.g. "hold off from planning your trip for now", where "hold off for now" without context of what is being held off feels insufficient).