stab

Etymology 1

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.

noun

1. 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. 1979, Karl May, The Secret Brotherhood: A Novel, Seabury Press, page 52
2. A wound made by stabbing.
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, page 73
4. (informal) An attempt.
   I'll give this thankless task a stab.
   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. January 12 2022, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22
5. Criticism.
6. (music) A 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.

verb

1. (transitive) 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.
   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. […] 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tremarn Case
   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. 3 February 2021, Drachinifel, 12:32 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-12-04
2. (transitive) To thrust in a stabbing motion.
   to stab a dagger into a person
3. (intransitive) 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.
4. (intransitive) 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.
5. (transitive, figurative) To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.
   to stab a person's reputation
6. (transitive) To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
7. (transitive) To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.

Etymology 2

Clipping of stabilizer or stabiliser.

noun

1. (aviation, slang) The 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 2021-01-23

Etymology 3

adj

1. (industrial relations) Clipping of established.
   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
   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

noun

1. (industrial relations) Clipping 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