stab

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To push a knife or other sharp object into someone or something.

   The victim was stabbed in the arm.

2. 2
   noun

   A wound or blow made with a knife or sharp object.

   He died from a single stab to the chest.

3. 3
   noun

   A sudden sharp feeling of pain or emotion.

   She felt a stab of guilt when she saw his face.

4. 4
   noun

   An attempt to do something.

   I'll have a stab at fixing the computer myself.

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.

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