stab
noun
- single staccato note or chord that adds dramatic punctuation to a composition
- act/process of poking with sharp object (perhaps fatally), metaphorically trying something
verb
- poke with sharp object, perhaps fatally, metaphorically try something
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /stæb/
adj
- 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.”
“The pressmen were granted a stab wage of 36s for a 60 hour week, and the extras for overtime and Sunday work […]”
noun
Etymology: Acronym of same-type attack bonus.
- A 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).
verb
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 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.”
“"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.[…]"”
- 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.”
“None shall dare / With shortened sword to stab in closer war.”
- 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.
“[O]ne of the derrickman's jobs is to "stab" the pipe.”