stab

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument

   one strong stab to the heart killed him

2. 2
   noun

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   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.

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   An attempt.

   I'll give this thankless task a stab.

6. 6
   noun

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

   a horn stab

7. 7
   verb

   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.

8. 8
   verb

   To thrust in a stabbing motion.

   to stab a dagger into a person

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.