Stab Meaning
/stæb/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAn act of stabbing or thrusting with an object.
nounA wound made by stabbing.
Sentence Examples
There's no telling when she'll stab you in the back.
Scissors are meant for cutting but can also be used to stab.
CEFR Practice Quiz
In a dangerous fight, the criminal tried to ____ the victim with a knife.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He decided to give the difficult challenge a ____ even though he wasn't sure if he could succeed.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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, →ISBN, page 52:
"I opened the man's linen robe, and there over his heart was a dagger-wound, and beneath the woman's fair breast was a like cruel stab, through which her life had ebbed away."
— 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
"“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, →ISBN, page 73:
"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."
— 2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22:
""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.[…]""
— 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
In a dangerous fight, the criminal tried to ____ the victim with a knife.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He decided to give the difficult challenge a ____ even though he wasn't sure if he could succeed.