stab.
An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object to hurt or kill someone.
Meaning & usage
An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object to hurt or kill someone.
A wound made by stabbing.
Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.
An attempt.
I'll give this thankless task a stab.
Criticism.
A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.
A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.
Where this word comes from
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.
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.
To thrust in a stabbing motion.
to stab a dagger into a person
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.
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.
To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.
to stab a person's reputation
To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.
To guide the end of a pipe into a coupling when making up a connection.
Where this word comes from
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.
The horizontal or vertical stabilizer of an aircraft.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of stabilizer or stabiliser.
Clipping of established.
Clipping of establishment.
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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.