Printers’ slang. Also ’stab. [Short for establishment.] = ESTABLISHMENT 10. Also attrib.
1865. Hotten’s Slang. Dict., 244. On the stab.
1875. Southward, Dict. Typogr., s.v., A man who is ‘on ’stab’ receives establishment wages.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 130. ’Stab.—A term applied to establishment hands, i.e. workmen paid by the week and not by piece-work.
1890. Scott. Leader, 10 June, 5. Fleming was known as a stab man, as opposed to a man who was paid by the result of his labours. Ibid., 6. When he was dismissed he was a society-man, and was paid a stab wage of £2 3s a week.
