stab

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stab/stab/

▶verb (stabs, stabbing, stabbed)

• 1 thrust a knife or other pointed weapon into.

• 2 thrust a pointed object at.

• 3 (usu. stab at) (of a pain or painful thing) cause a sudden sharp sensation.

▶noun

• 1 an act of stabbing.

  ■ a wound made by stabbing.

• 2 a sudden sharp feeling or pain.

• 3 (a stab at) informal an attempt to do.

– phrases
stab someone in the back betray someone.

– derivatives
stabber noun,
stabbing noun & adjective.

– origin ME: of unknown origin.