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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

jab.

A quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/d͡ʒæb/
  1. A quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.

  2. A short straight punch.

  3. A medical hypodermic injection (vaccination or inoculation).

    UK
    Our dog was exposed to rabies, so the whole family went to a clinic to get our jabs.
  4. A vaccination, whether or not delivered by means of a conventional injection.

    Australia · New-Zealand · Philippines · UK · sometimes
  5. A mild verbal insult.

    US · figuratively
Where this word comes from

Originally a Scottish (unclear if Scots or Scottish English) form of English job (“peck, poke, thrust”), from Middle English jobben.

verb/d͡ʒæb/
  1. To poke or thrust abruptly, or to make such a motion.

  2. To deliver a quick punch.

  3. To give someone an injection.

    UK · slang
  4. To vaccinate or inoculate someone.

    slang
  5. To make fun of, to mock.

Where this word comes from

Originally a Scottish (unclear if Scots or Scottish English) form of English job (“peck, poke, thrust”), from Middle English jobben.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.