stab
/stæb/ verb B2- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
He/she/it stabs · Past stabbed · Past participle stabbed · -ing form stabbing
Verb forms
- Base form
- stab
- He/she/it
- stabs
- Past
- stabbed
- Past participle
- stabbed
- -ing form
- stabbing
From the library
The cause of death was a deep stab in the left side, which must have penetrated the heart.
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.
In the sudden stab of fear that pierced her very heart she realized what Anne had come to mean to her.
He had once been a skilful sculptor and had earned an honest living, but he had taken to evil courses and had twice already been in jail—once for a petty theft, and once, as we had already heard, for stabbing a fellow-countryman.
Other matches
Learn stab in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.