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stab

noun
/stæb/

Etymology

First attested in Scottish English (compare Scots stob, stobbe, stabb (“a pointed stick or stake; a thrust with a pointed weapon”)), from Middle English stabbe (“a stab”), probably a variant of Middle English stob, stub, stubbe (“pointed stick, stake, thorn, stub, stump”), from Old Norse stobbi, stubbi, cognate with Old English stybb. Cognate with Middle Dutch stobbe. Supposed by some to derive from Scottish Gaelic stob (“to prick, to prod, to push, to thrust”); supposed by others to be from a Scots word.

  1. derived from stob
  2. derived from stobbi
  3. derived from stob
  4. derived from stabbe

Definitions

  1. An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object.

    • A knife was flashing in his hand, and just as he was about to take a stab at me, the smith grabbed his arm from behind.

  2. A wound made by stabbing.

    • I opened the man's linen robe, and there over his heart was a dagger-wound, and beneath the woman's fair breast was a like cruel stab, through which her life had ebbed away.

  3. Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.

    • “I bet you two have really big plans. And might I say, that is just fab,” he said of Lynn's dress. “I'm glad someone noticed,” she replied, seeming to take a stab at me.
  4. ›+ 16 more definitions

    1. An attempt.

      • I'll give this thankless task a stab.
      • As yet, we don't know what the comparable figures will be like for the current financial year which ends in March 2022, but we can have a good stab at approximating them.

    2. Criticism.

    3. A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.

      • a horn stab

    4. A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the…

      A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.

    5. To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a (usually pointed) tool or weapon, especially a…

      To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a (usually pointed) tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.

      • If you stab him in the heart he won't live long enough to retaliate.

    6. To thrust in a stabbing motion.

      • to stab a dagger into a person

    7. To recklessly hit with the tip of a (usually pointed) object, such as a weapon or finger…

      To recklessly hit with the tip of a (usually pointed) object, such as a weapon or finger (often used with at).

      • He stabbed at my face with the twig but luckily kept missing my eyes.
      • None shall dare / With shortened sword to stab in closer war.
      • Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.

    8. To cause a sharp, painful sensation (often used with at).

      • The snow from the blizzard was stabbing at my face as I skied down the mountain.

    9. To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.

      • to stab a person's reputation

    10. To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.

    11. To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.

    12. To guide the end of a pipe into a coupling when making up a connection.

      • [O]ne of the derrickman's jobs is to "stab" the pipe.

    13. The horizontal or vertical stabilizer of an aircraft.

      • If the pilots used electric pitch trim, it would only pause MCAS for 5s; to deactivate it you have to switch off the STAB TRIM CUTOUT switches.

    14. Clipping of established.

      • Do you know whether any country offices pay their men by the thousand, or whether they are on stab wages? — I do not know. Some are paid stab wages, but I do not know whether there is much piece-work.
      • The pressmen were granted a stab wage of 36s for a 60 hour week, and the extras for overtime and Sunday work […]

    15. Clipping of establishment.

      • […] there were 286 overseers and 210 readers occupied in the 501 offices; 2,691 compositors were paid on the stab […]

    16. A 50% damage boost applied when a Pokémon uses a move with the same type as itself (for…

      A 50% damage boost applied when a Pokémon uses a move with the same type as itself (for example, an Electric-type Pokémon using an Electric-type move).

The neighborhood

Derived

antistab, downstab, have a stab, have a stab at, take a stab at, stab binding, stabbing, stabby, stab cell, stab in the back, stab in the dark, stablike, stab pass, stabproof, stab-rag, stab stitch, stabstitch, stabvest, stab vest, stabwort, stabworthy, stab wound, stabwound, backstab, backstabbing, brain-stabbing, stab a guess, stabbable, stabbee, stabber, stab yourself and pass the dagger, twice-stabbed lady beetle, twice-stabbed ladybug, twice-stabbed stink bug, unstabbed

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at stab. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01stab02thrusting03expel04bullet05propellant06propels07propel08arrive09reach10thrust

A definitional loop anchored at stab. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at stab

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA