stab

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To pierce or wound with or as if with a pointed weapon.
2. v. To plunge (a pointed weapon or instrument) into something.
3. v. To make a thrusting or poking motion at or into: stabbed the air with his fingers.
4. v. To thrust with or as if with a pointed weapon: stabbed at the food with her fork.
5. v. To inflict a wound with or as if with a pointed weapon.
6. n. A thrust with a pointed weapon or instrument.
7. n. A wound inflicted with or as if with a pointed weapon.
8. n. A sudden piercing pain.
9. n. An attempt; a try: made a stab at the answer.
10. idiom. stab (someone) in the back To harm (someone) by treachery or betrayal of trust.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To puncture, pierce, or wound with or as with a pointed weapon, especially with a knife or dagger.
2. To thrust or plunge, as a pointed weapon.
3. Figuratively, to pierce or penetrate; inflict keen or severe pain upon: injure secretly, as by slander or malicious falsehoods: as, to stab one in the back (that is, to slander one behind his back).
4. In masonry, to pick (a brick wall) so as to make it rough, and thereby afford a hold for plaster.
5. To aim a blow with a dagger or other pointed weapon, either literally or figuratively: as, to stab at a person.
6. To wound; be extremely cutting.
7. n. A thrust or blow with the point of a weapon, especially a dagger.
8. n. A wound made with a sharp-pointed weapon.
9. n. A wound given in the dark; a treacherous injury.
10. In bookbinding, to perforate near the back folds (the assembled sections of an unbound book). This operation is immediately followed by the insertion of the thread or wire which secures the sections together.
11. n. In bacteriology, a culture of bacteria produced by stabbing the inoculating needle into the solid medium. See culture.
12. n. In billiards, a foreshortened stroke, causing the cue-ball, for some special reason, to stop in the place of the one it set in motion.
13. n. See the extracts.

Wiktionary

1. n. An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object.
2. n. A wound made by stabbing.
3. n. Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.
4. n. informal An attempt.
5. n. Criticism.
6. v. transitive To pierce or to wound with a pointed tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.
7. v. intransitive To recklessly hit with the tip of a pointed object, such as a weapon or finger (often used with at).
8. v. intransitive To cause a sharp, painful sensation (often used with at).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To pierce with a pointed weapon; to wound or kill by the thrust of a pointed instrument; ; also, to thrust.
2. v. Fig.: To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.
3. v. To give a wound with a pointed weapon; to pierce; to thrust with a pointed weapon.
4. v. To wound or pain, as if with a pointed weapon.
5. n. The thrust of a pointed weapon.
6. n. A wound with a sharp-pointed weapon.
7. n. Fig.: An injury inflicted covertly or suddenly.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. use a knife on
2. n. a sudden sharp feeling
3. v. stab or pierce
4. n. a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument
5. v. poke or thrust abruptly
6. n. informal words for any attempt or effort