stab

plural stabs

1. An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object to hurt or kill someone.

   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.

   1979, Karl May, The Secret Brotherhood: A Novel, Seabury Press, →ISBN, page 52

2. 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.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

3. 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.

   2001, Van Whitfield, Guys in Suits: A Novel, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 73

4. informalAn attempt.

   I'll give this thankless task a stab.

   1 more example

   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.

   2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22

5. Criticism.
6. entertainmentA single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.

   a horn stab

7. A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.

present singular third person stabs · participle present stabbing · participle past stabbed · past stabbed

1. transitiveTo 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.

   2 more examples

   "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.[…]"

   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

   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.

   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

2. transitiveTo thrust in a stabbing motion.

   to stab a dagger into a person

3. intransitiveTo 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.

   2 more examples

   None shall dare / With shortened sword to stab in closer war.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   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.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

4. intransitiveTo 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.

5. figurativelytransitiveTo injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.

   to stab a person's reputation

   Synonyms: besmirch, denigrate, assassinate, asperse, backbite, badmouth, befoul, belibel

6. transitiveTo roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
7. transitiveTo pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.
8. transitiveoil industryTo guide the end of a pipe into a coupling when making up a connection.

   [O]ne of the derrickman's jobs is to "stab" the pipe.

   2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, page 57

plural stabs

1. slangaeronauticsThe horizontal or vertical stabilizer of an aircraft.

   If the pilots used electric pitch trim, it would only pause MCAS for 5s; to deactivate it you have to switch off the STAB TRIM CUTOUT switches.

   2020, Chris Brady, “737 MAX - MCAS”, in The Boeing 737 Technical Site, archived from the original on 23 Jan 2021

1. abbreviationclippingnot comparableindustrial relationsClipping of established.

   The pressmen were granted a stab wage of 36s for a 60 hour week, and the extras for overtime and Sunday work […]

   1967, John Child, Industrial Relations in the British Printing Industry, page 113

   1 more example

   Do you know whether any country offices pay their men by the thousand, or whether they are on stab wages? — I do not know. Some are paid stab wages, but I do not know whether there is much piece-work.

   1893, Proceedings of the Parliament of South Australia, page 313

1. abbreviationclippingno pluralindustrial relationsClipping of establishment.

   […] there were 286 overseers and 210 readers occupied in the 501 offices; 2,691 compositors were paid on the stab […]

   1892, The British Printer, volume 5, page 42

1. slanguncountablelifestyleA 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).