Library / English Dictionary

STAB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: stabbed    , stabbing   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Informal words for any attempt or effort

Example:

he took a stab at forecasting

Synonyms:

shot; stab

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("stab" is a kind of...):

attempt; effort; endeavor; endeavour; try (earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument

Example:

one strong stab to the heart killed him

Synonyms:

knife thrust; stab; thrust

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("stab" is a kind of...):

blow (a powerful stroke with the fist or a weapon)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stab"):

lunge; passado; straight thrust ((fencing) an attacking thrust made with one foot forward and the back leg straight and with the sword arm outstretched forward)

remise ((fencing) a second thrust made on the same lunge (as when your opponent fails to riposte))

Derivation:

stab (stab or pierce)

stab (use a knife on)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sudden sharp feeling

Example:

twinges of conscience

Synonyms:

pang; stab; twinge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("stab" is a kind of...):

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stab"):

guilt pang (pangs of feeling guilty)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Poke or thrust abruptly

Example:

he jabbed his finger into her ribs

Synonyms:

dig; jab; poke; prod; stab

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "stab" is one way to...):

thrust (push forcefully)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stab or pierce

Example:

he jabbed the piece of meat with his pocket knife

Synonyms:

jab; stab

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "stab" is one way to...):

thrust (push forcefully)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stab"):

goad; prick (stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

stab (a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument)

stabber (someone who stabs another person)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Use a knife on

Example:

The victim was knifed to death

Synonyms:

knife; stab

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "stab" is one way to...):

injure; wound (cause injuries or bodily harm to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stab"):

poniard (stab with a poniard)

bayonet (stab or kill someone with a bayonet)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to stab the prisoners

Derivation:

stab (a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument)

stabber (someone who stabs another person)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Sharp stabbing chest pain or reproduction of pain on palpation.

(Atypical Coronary Artery Disease Symptom, NCI Thesaurus/ACC)

“YOU love him? You?” she cried, with her clenched hand, quivering as if it only wanted a weapon to stab the object of her wrath.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Summerlee was wiping the blood from a cut in his forehead, while I was tying up a nasty stab in the muscle of the neck.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Such sordid things as stabbing affrays were evidently not fit subjects for conversation with a lady.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He gave the order that if the knight who caught the apple, should go away again they should pursue him, and if he would not come back willingly, they were to cut him down and stab him.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She had never heard him speak so openly before, and though it told her no more than what she had long perceived, it was a stab, for it told of his own convictions and views.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I was confined to my room, terrorised by the most horrible threats, cruelly ill-used to break my spirit—see this stab on my shoulder and the bruises from end to end of my arms—and a gag was thrust into my mouth on the one occasion when I tried to call from the window.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The speckled band!’ There was something else which she would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the Doctor’s room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked her words.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They never could have been all three together, without her having stabbed Jane Fairfax's peace in a thousand instances; and on Box Hill, perhaps, it had been the agony of a mind that would bear no more.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

With this, and with my aid, Hands bound up the great bleeding stab he had received in the thigh, and after he had eaten a little and had a swallow or two more of the brandy, he began to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer, and looked in every way another man.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)