stab
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
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.
Inflected forms:
form: stabs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: stabs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: stabbing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: stabbed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: stabbed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: A wound made by stabbing.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.
pos: noun
examples: “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.
gloss: An attempt.
pos: noun
tags: informal
examples: 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.
gloss: Criticism.
pos: noun
gloss: A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.
pos: noun
examples: a horn stab
gloss: A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.
pos: noun
gloss: To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a (usually pointed) tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: If you stab him in the heart he won't live long enough to retaliate.
"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.[…]"
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.
gloss: To thrust in a stabbing motion.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to stab a dagger into a person
gloss: To recklessly hit with the tip of a (usually pointed) object, such as a weapon or finger (often used with at).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To cause a sharp, painful sensation (often used with at).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The snow from the blizzard was stabbing at my face as I skied down the mountain.
gloss: To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: to stab a person's reputation
gloss: To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To guide the end of a pipe into a coupling when making up a connection.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [O]ne of the derrickman's jobs is to "stab" the pipe.
Synonyms: chef
chib
ching
chive
enthrill
foin
gore
gride
jab
job
juke
kebab
knifecrime
lancinate
pigstick
pink
poach
run through
shank
shiv
spear
speet
splash
stab
stick
stob
stog
thrust
yerk
Derived words: 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
Translations: