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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To poke or thrust abruptly: jabbed a knife into the log.
  2. v. To stab or pierce: jabbed the steak with a fork.
  3. v. To punch (someone) with short blows.
  4. v. To make an abrupt poking or thrusting motion: jabbed at the pickles with his fork.
  5. v. To deliver a quick punch.
  6. n. A quick stab or blow.
  7. n. Sports A short straight punch in boxing.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To strike with the end or point of something; thrust the end of something against or into; poke.
  2. To strike with the end or point of; thrust: as, to jab a stick against a person; to jab a cane into or through a picture.
  3. n. A stroke with the point or end of something; a thrust.
  4. n. Nautical, a net used in catching the fry of fish.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A quick stab or blow
  2. n. , a short straight punch (wikipedia:Jab)
  3. n. A medical injection
  4. n. In American English, the word jab is also used when someone is bothering someone else, what is commonly known as verbal jabs. "Don't throw jabs at me" and "Quit jabbing!" are popular sayings. This may be because the verbal annoyances are not substantial attacks, and are similar to a boxing jab in that they are only annoying (not a knockout blow).
  5. v. To poke or thrust abruptly, or to make such a motion.
  6. v. To deliver a quick punch.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To thrust; to stab; to punch. See job, v. t.
  2. n. A thrust or stab.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. poke or thrust abruptly
  2. n. a quick short straight punch
  3. n. the act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow
  4. v. stab or pierce
  5. v. strike or punch with quick and short blows
  6. n. a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)

Etymologies

  1. Variant of job2.

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘jab’.

Comments

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  • jmjarmstrong JM has been to the acupuncturist – that’s a jab well done. May 25, 2011

‘jab’ has been looked up 2520 times, loved by 1 person, added to 20 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 12.