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stab

Pronunciation: /stæb/

The English word “stab” has 16 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object to hurt or kill someone.
  2. A wound made by stabbing.
  3. Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.
  4. An attempt.
  5. Criticism.
  6. A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.
  7. A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.
  8. The horizontal or vertical stabilizer of an aircraft.

verb

  1. To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a (usually pointed) tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.
  2. To thrust in a stabbing motion.
  3. To recklessly hit with the tip of a (usually pointed) object, such as a weapon or finger (often used with at).
  4. To cause a sharp, painful sensation (often used with at).
  5. To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.
  6. To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
  7. To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.
  8. To guide the end of a pipe into a coupling when making up a connection.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.