What is "stab"

Stab culture \Stab culture\ (Bacteriol.) A culture made by inoculating a solid medium, as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire; -- called also stab. The growths are usually of characteristic form.

late 14c., "thrust with a pointed weapon," first in Scottish English, apparently a dialectal variant of Scottish stob "to pierce, stab," from stob (n.), perhaps a variant of stub (n.) "stake, nail," but Barnhart finds this "doubtful." Figurative use, of emotions, etc., is from 1590s. Related: Stabbed; stabbing.

"wound produced by stabbing," mid-15c., from stab (v.). Meaning "act of stabbing" is from 1520s. Meaning "a try" first recorded 1895, American English. Stab in the back in the figurative sense "treacherous deed" is first attested 1881; the verbal phrase in the figurative sense is from 1888.

n. 1 An act of stabbing or thrust with an object. 2 A wound made by stabbing. 3 Pain inflicted on a person's feelings. 4 (context informal English) An attempt. 5 criticism. 6 (context music English) A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition. 7 A bacterial culture made by inoculate a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire. vb. (context transitive English) To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a pointed tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.

1. n. a sudden sharp feeling; "pangs of regret"; "she felt a stab of excitement"; "twinges of conscience" [syn: pang, twinge]

2. a thrusting blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument; "one strong stab to the heart killed him" [syn: thrust, knife thrust]

3. informal words for any attempt or effort; "he gave it his best shot"; "he took a stab at forecasting" [syn: shot]

4. [also: stabbing, stabbed]

1. v. use a knife on; "The victim was knifed to death" [syn: knife]

2. stab or pierce; "he jabbed the piece of meat with his pocket knife" [syn: jab]

3. poke or thrust abruptly; "he jabbed his finger into her ribs" [syn: jab, prod, poke, dig]

4. [also: stabbing, stabbed]

STAB or stab may refer to:

• The act of stabbing with a sharp instrument
• Stab, Kentucky
• Stab, a short form of stab jacket, another word for buoyancy compensator
• Stab, a short form of Stabilizer of aircraft
• Stab vest, a type of armour designed to resist knife attacks
• Stab (music), a single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition
• STAB, an acronym for "Store to accumulator B", in some forms of assembly language
• STAB, an acronym for the St. Anne's-Belfield School, a college preparatory school located in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
• "Stab", a song by Built to Spill from their 1994 album There's Nothing Wrong with Love
• STAB, same type attack bonus, a statistical element in the Pokémon video games
• Stab is the German language word for "staff", in the sense of an administrative body, especially in military usage. Stab, during World War II was the German Luftwaffe (air force) designation for command aircraft or headquarters units

• Johann Stab, another way of referring to the Austrian scientist Johannes Stabius
• British Army slang for a Territorial Army soldier (Stupid TA Bastard)
• Stab, the metafictional film-within-a-film from Scream 2, Scream 3 and Scream 4
• Symbol table, a data structure used by a language translator such as a compiler or Interpreter
• Sodium triacetoxyborohydride, a reducing agent used in organic synthesis

The German language term Stab (literal translation: " staff") was used during World War II to designate a headquarters unit of the German Luftwaffe (air force). There were Stab units at the level of a Gruppe or Geschwader – units that were equivalent to wings and groups in the air forces of the English speaking world. Stab units directly controlled aircraft as well as controlling those belonging to subordinate units.

These command units used the mandated green "staff aircraft" colour for the third character (the individual aircraft's letter) of their alphanumeric Geschwaderkennung wing code, to distinguish their aircraft from the rest of air units in the same unit. These units were divided in the following form, for the fourth and last character normally used to distinguish individual Staffeln (squadrons) from the letter "H" onwards in Luftwaffe wing codes:

• Geschwader Stab = A
• Stab I Gruppe ("Staff Unit, I Group") = B
• Stab II Gruppe = C
• Stab III Gruppe = D
• Stab IV Gruppe = E
• Stab V Gruppe = F

On some occasions they also used letters G, Q, I, J, W and others, or numbers, but these were used less commonly. These units used the red-blue or blue-white-blue Reich Defense (German Reich metropolitan defense) sign. Under the cockpit, the rank of the air commander might have been indicated via a rank sign, with or without additional letters as mentioned above.

For example:

• An airplane codified "A", green in colour, with D/St.III/St.G.77, indicated it was a member of Stab III of Stukageschwader (Dive Bomber Wing) No. 77.
• An airplane codified "G", green in colour, with a little white tank (Panzer) painting near the cockpit, and S.G. 1, indicated it was a member of Stab of Schlachtgeschwader (Ground Attack Wing) no. 1.

In music, a stab is a single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition. Stabs are usually provided by horns (real or synthesized), thus the term horn stab, or an orchestral sample, usually occur on a 1-beat, and are frequently used in funk, freestyle, and ska.

As well, stabs are used in electronic music, in the form of tiny snippets of a song used as rhythmic accents in a new composition. Early Breakbeat Hardcore, such as Prodigy's " Fire", and Hip hop in general made use of stabs.

The stab is a breakdance technique necessary to perform many downrock and power moves. It is not a distinct move, but is incorporated into many breakdance moves including the turtle, cricket, jackhammer, crab-walk, hand glide, some versions of the windmill, and many other floats and freezes. It allows the breakdancer's entire weight to be supported by bony structures while expending minimal muscular energy to maintain balance.

The stab is accomplished by placing the olecranon process of the elbow firmly against the bones or tensed muscles of the abdomen, side, or back. Perhaps the most basic stab places the elbow against the anterior superior iliac spine. Meanwhile, the hand is placed against the ground. The radius and ulna are held perpendicular to the ground with the weight of the body on either side of the point of contact kept in perfect balance. Assuming this balance is maintained, the rest of the body can then be suspended above the ground in any desired position.