[Related to the synonymous STOB v.
The vb. has been found before 1530 only in Sc. writers; the related STAB sb.1 occurs in Promp. Parv. (1440).]
1. trans. To wound (often to kill) with a thrust of a pointed weapon (chiefly, with a short weapon, as a dagger). Phrase, to stab to († at, into) the heart.
1530. Palsgr., 731/2. He stabbyd hym with a daggar.
1585–7. Kyd, Sp. Trag., IV. i. 125. She … Did stab herselfe.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., V. ii. 47. Stab them, or teare them on thy Chariot wheeles.
1605. Nottingham Rec., IV. 276. A daggar to stabbe and kill Hugh Lenton.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 201. Iohn Iames … did stab into the breast Peter Heywood Esquire.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 9. Stabbed to the heart by the hand of an obscure villain.
1678. Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, V. i. § 100. 468/2. Henry the fourth King of France was stab’d by Ravilliac.
1713. Addison, Cato, III. ii. Think, thou seest thy dying brother Stabb’d at his heart.
1718. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), VI. 247. A Stag … meeting a Man as he was running along, he stabbed him with his Horns.
1764. Museum Rust., IV. 33. Some Remarks on stabbing Cattle hoved with Clover.
1771. Burrow, King’s Bench Rep., V. 2795. John Taylor instantly … stabbed the said James Smith.
1830. Tennyson, Oriana, 55. They should have stabb’d me where I lay.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xlv. Scipio … stabbed himself.
† b. To stab (a person) in = sense 1. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 731/2. I stabbe in with a dagger or any other scharpe wepyn, je enferre.
1561. Norton & Sackv., Gorboduc, IV. ii. 190. While slumbring on his carefull bed he restes His hart stabde in with knife is reft of life.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Confossus … wounded: stabbed in.
1587. Higgins, Mirr. Mag., C. I. Cæsar, xlix. Hee stabde mee in, and so with daggers did the rest.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xii. (1592), 173. This proud Peacocke [Cæsar] … is in one day stabbed in with infinite wounds.
c. fig.
1686. Horneck, Crucif. Jesus, xxiv. 803. If he have often stabbed his neighbours by slanders.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 617. ’Tis universal soldiership has stabb’d The heart of merit in the meaner class.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, III. 200. He fabricates The sword which stabs his peace.
c. 1850. Lowell, Leb. Brittany, II. xxiv. Her silence stabbed his conscience through and through.
d. transf. In various occasional uses.
a. 1652. Brome, Queen & Concubine, III. viii. (1659), 64. Thou hear’st me say, I dare not speak her name, Yet thou dar’st stab mine Ears again, with it.
a. 1711. Ken, Psyche, Poet. Wks. IV. 234. As the Morning Cloud decays, When stab’d by the encroaching Rays.
a. 1800. Dk. Athole’s Nurse, xi. in Child, Ballads, IV. 152. O they stabbed the feather-bed all round and round.
1834. Mar. Edgeworth, Helen, II. ix. When they had stabbed the cushions, and torn the inside of my carriage all to pieces.
1895. Outing, XXVI. 40/2. Fireflies stabbed the gloom with their darting flame.
† e. slang. (See quot.) Obs.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Dorset (1662), 278. Stab’d with a Byrdport Dagger. That is, hang’d…. The best … Hemp … growing about Byrdport.
† f. With obscene reference. Obs.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. i. 15. He stabd me in mine owne house, and that most beastly. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., I. ii. 277. If Cæsar had stab’d their Mothers, they would haue done no lesse.
2. absol. and intr. To use a pointed weapon to wound or kill.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIX. 545. Than suld the laiff that forouth ar Stab doune with speres sturdely. Ibid., 565. Thai stabbit, stekit, and thai slew.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. i. 13. It may chance cost some of vs our liues: he wil stab.
1607. Lingua, II. i. If they heare my name abused, they stab for my sake.
1700. Dryden, Pal. & Arc., III. 509. None shall dare With shortned Sword to stab in closer War.
1819. Shelley, Mask, lxxxiv. Let them ride among you there, Slash, and stab, and maim, and hew.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, Concl. 61. The little boys begin to shoot and stab.
1887. Gunter, Mr. Barnes, xxiii. 178. ‘My husband’s body lies behind those curtains!’ She stands with uplifted arm a moment, pointing to the draperies through which Tomasso has stabbed.
fig. 1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. v. 109. Thou hid’st a thousand Daggers in thy thoughts,… To stab at halfe an howre of my life. Ibid. (1599), Much Ado, II. i. 255. Shee speakes poynyards, and euery word stabbes.
1762. Lloyd, Epist. to Churchill, 14. Critics of old … Boldly persu’d the free decisive task, Nor stabb’d, conceal’d beneath a ruffian’s mask.
1769. Junius Lett., xxvi. 122. Suspicion is the foul weapon with which you … stab.
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xxi. 290. They stab at their neighbour’s good name and reputation.
1883. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 352/2.
| Outbursting on a sky of steel and ice, | |
| The baffled sun stabs wildly at the gale. |
† b. Sc. To make thrasts with a staff or club.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. x. 6. Poliphemus … A monstir … Wanting his sycht, and com to stab and graip With his burdoun, that wes the greit fir tre [orig. trunca manum pinus regit et vestigia firmat].
c. To suffer a ‘stab’ of pain. ? nonce-use.
1865. ‘Annie Thomas,’ On Guard, xxxix. The reels of cotton danced aloud within it, making Stanley’s head stab.
d. nonce-use. To make a hole through something.
1897. Kipling, Captains Courageous, v. 112. The foregaff stabbed and ripped through the staysail.
3. trans. To thrust (a weapon) into a person.
c. 1610. Rowlands, Terrible Batt., 10. I stab’d my dart, thus deepe into his side.
1639. S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 250. Liberat … gets upon him, stabs his poignard three or foure times in his belly.
1912. Yoshio Markino, in 19th Cent., Dec., 1195. Men commit Hara-kiri and women stab the daggers to their throats immediately.
4. To prick. Now dial. Cf. STOB v.
1570. Levins, Manip., 1/26. To stab, pricke, pungere, stimulare.
1864. J. Rogers, New Rush, II. 33. [He may] stab himself upon a Porcupine.
5. To hammer or pick (a hard surface) with a sharp tool, to roughen (a wall) with a pick before applying a coat of plaster.
1846. Penny Cycl., Suppl. II. 431/1. The surface of the brickwork must be stabbed or picked over to make it rough.
6. Bookbinding. To pierce (a collection of sheets) in order to make a hole for a binding thread or wire; to fasten the sheets of (a pamphlet, etc.) together in this way instead of by sewing.
1863. Reader, 21 Nov., 600/1. Nor even stitched like a book, but ‘stabbed’ as an auction catalogue now is.
1888. Jacobi, Printer’s Vocab., 130. Stabbed, a form of stitching by piercing or stabbing, used mostly for cheap pamphlet work.
1901. H. A. Giles, in 19th Cent., April, 662. When enough sheets have been brought together, they are stabbed at the open ends and form a volume.
