Stab

Stab

Verb & Noun · /stæb/ · to pierce with a pointed object; also a sudden sharp attempt or guess

Definition

To stab is to pierce or wound something with a pointed instrument — a knife, a needle, a spike. The motion is direct, sudden, and deliberate: you thrust the point in. As a noun, a stab is the act itself — a stab wound — or the sensation: a stab of pain, a stab of guilt. Figuratively, to take a stab at something means to make an attempt, especially an uncertain or exploratory one. I will take a stab at the problem. A stab in the dark is a guess with no real basis. The word covers a wide range from literal violence to casual attempts.

Origin

Stab entered English in the fifteenth century, probably from a Scottish or Northern English dialect variant. Its precise origin is uncertain, but it may connect to Celtic or Gaelic roots meaning a stick or pointed object. By the sixteenth century it was in common literary and legal use for both the physical act and figurative meanings. Shakespeare used stab in multiple senses — literal, metaphorical, and emotional. The figurative extension — taking a stab, a stab in the dark — developed naturally from the primary physical sense of a sudden, single directed thrust.