stab
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: stăb
ipa: /stæb/
rhymes: -æb
Forms: form: stabs
form: stabbing
form: stabbed
form: stabbed
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.
Senses: examples: text: If you stab him in the heart he won't live long enough to retaliate.
text: "There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom.[…]"
ref: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
text: Hornet blazed away as best she could, but, having to split her attention between high and low attackers, as well as having the aft 5-inch battery temporarily disabled by a young officer who'd accidentally run the guns into their stops, freezing them in position until the issue could be sorted, meant that two 550-pound semi-armor-piercing bombs, and one fractionally-lighter high-explosive bomb, soon crashed down, the first two stabbing deep into the ship and the other one blowing a hole in the flight deck, accompanied by a dive bomber that had been shot down but elected to go out by slamming into the Hornet as opposed to the sea. In some small comfort, that aircraft's bomb didn't go off as well.
ref: 2021 February 3, Drachinifel, 12:32 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 04 Dec 2022:
synonyms: foin
jab
shiv
glosses: To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a (usually pointed) tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.
examples: text: to stab a dagger into a person
glosses: To thrust in a stabbing motion.
examples: text: He stabbed at my face with the twig but luckily kept missing my eyes.
text: None shall dare / With shortened sword to stab in closer war.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
glosses: To recklessly hit with the tip of a (usually pointed) object, such as a weapon or finger (often used with at).
examples: text: The snow from the blizzard was stabbing at my face as I skied down the mountain.
glosses: To cause a sharp, painful sensation (often used with at).
examples: text: to stab a person's reputation
synonyms: word: besmirch
word: denigrate
word: assassinate
word: asperse
word: backbite
word: badmouth
word: belibel
word: belittle
word: besmirch
word: blaze
word: blemish
word: blot
word: calumniate
word: calumny
word: cloud
word: cut down
word: defame
word: demonize
word: denigrate
word: derogate
word: detract
word: discredit
word: disgrace
word: disparage
word: diss
word: forgab
word: infamize
word: lampoon
word: libel
word: malign
word: monster
word: reproach
word: revile
word: scandal
word: shit-talk
word: slag
word: slander
word: spatter
word: speak ill of
word: stab
word: talk shit
word: talk shite
word: talk trash
word: torch
word: traduce
word: trash-talk
word: vilify
word: vilipend
word: vituperate
glosses: To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.
glosses: To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
glosses: To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.
examples: text: [O]ne of the derrickman's jobs is to "stab" the pipe.
ref: 2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, page 57:
qualifier: oil industry
glosses: To guide the end of a pipe into a coupling when making up a connection.
Synonyms: word: chef
word: chib
word: ching
word: chive
word: enthrill
word: foin
word: gore
word: gride
word: jab
word: job
word: juke
word: kebab
word: knifecrime
word: lancinate
word: pigstick
word: pink
word: poach
word: run through
word: shank
word: shiv
word: spear
word: speet
word: splash
word: stab
word: stick
word: stob
word: stog
word: thrust
word: yerk
Hypernyms: word: attack
word: harm
word: impale
word: kill
Hyponyms: word: bayonet
word: blade
word: dagger
word: dirk
word: knife
word: kris
word: lance
word: pike
word: poniard
Coordinate terms: word: cut
Derived terms: backstabbing
brain-stabbing
stab a guess
stabbee
stabber
stab yourself and pass the dagger
twice-stabbed lady beetle
twice-stabbed ladybug
twice-stabbed stink bug
unstabbed