stab
/stæb/ noun, verb
Forms stabs stabbing stabbed
- noun An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object to hurt or kill someone.
- noun A wound made by stabbing.
- noun Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.
- noun (informal) An attempt. “I'll give this thankless task a stab.”
- noun Criticism.
- noun (music) A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.
- noun A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.
- verb (transitive) 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.”
- verb (transitive) To thrust in a stabbing motion. “to stab a dagger into a person”
- verb (intransitive) 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.”
- verb (intransitive) 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.”
- verb (transitive, figurative) To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander. “to stab a person's reputation”
- verb (transitive) To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
- verb (transitive) To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.
- verb (transitive, oil industry) To guide the end of a pipe into a coupling when making up a connection.
- noun (aviation, slang) The horizontal or vertical stabilizer of an aircraft.
- noun (fandom slang, Pokémon) 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).
Synonyms
foin jab shiv besmirch denigrate assassinate asperse backbite badmouth befoul belibel besmear bewray blacken blame blaze blemish blot blur calumniate pang twinge thrust knife thrust shot knife prod poke dig
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.
Clipping of stabilizer or stabiliser.
Acronym of same-type attack bonus.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To pierce with a pointed weapon; to wound or kill by the thrust of a pointed instrument; as, to stab a man with a dagger; also, to thrust; as, to stab a dagger into a person.
- verb Fig.: To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander; as, to stab a person's reputation.
- verb To give a wound with a pointed weapon; to pierce; to thrust with a pointed weapon.
- verb To wound or pain, as if with a pointed weapon.
Etymology [Cf. OD. staven to fix, fasten, fr. stave, staff, a staff, rod; akin to G. stab a staff, stick, E. staff; also Gael. stob to stab, as n., a stake, a stub. Cf. Staff.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stab”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details