Definition of "stab"

A knife was flashing in his hand, and just as he was about to take a stab at me, the smith grabbed his arm from behind.

1979, Karl May, The Secret Brotherhood: A Novel, Seabury Press, page 52

I opened the man's linen robe, and there over his heart was a dagger-wound, and beneath the woman's fair breast was a like cruel stab, through which her life had ebbed away.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887

“I bet you two have really big plans. And might I say, that is just fab,” he said of Lynn's dress. “I'm glad someone noticed,” she replied, seeming to take a stab at me.

2001, Van Whitfield, Guys in Suits: A Novel, Doubleday, page 73

As yet, we don't know what the comparable figures will be like for the current financial year which ends in March 2022, but we can have a good stab at approximating them.

2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22

"There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom. […]"

1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tremarn Case‎

Hornet blazed away as best she could, but, having to split her attention between high and low attackers, as well as having the aft 5-inch battery temporarily disabled by a young officer who'd accidentally run the guns into their stops, freezing them in position until the issue could be sorted, meant that two 550-pound semi-armor-piercing bombs, and one fractionally-lighter high-explosive bomb, soon crashed down, the first two stabbing deep into the ship and the other one blowing a hole in the flight deck, accompanied by a dive bomber that had been shot down but elected to go out by slamming into the Hornet as opposed to the sea. In some small comfort, that aircraft's bomb didn't go off as well.

2021 February 3, Drachinifel, 12:32 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN)‎, archived from the original on 4 December 2022

None shall dare / With shortened sword to stab in closer war.

1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]

If the pilots used electric pitch trim, it would only pause MCAS for 5s; to deactivate it you have to switch off the STAB TRIM CUTOUT switches.

2020, Chris Brady, “737 MAX - MCAS”, in The Boeing 737 Technical Site‎, archived from the original on 23 January 2021

Do you know whether any country offices pay their men by the thousand, or whether they are on stab wages? — I do not know. Some are paid stab wages, but I do not know whether there is much piece-work.

1893, Proceedings of the Parliament of South Australia, page 313

The pressmen were granted a stab wage of 36s for a 60 hour week, and the extras for overtime and Sunday work […]

1967, John Child, Industrial Relations in the British Printing Industry, page 113

[…] there were 286 overseers and 210 readers occupied in the 501 offices; 2,691 compositors were paid on the stab […]

1892, The British Printer, volume 5, page 42