different between stab vs abuse

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?b, IPA^(key): /stæb/
• Hyphenation: stab
• Rhymes: -æb

Etymology 1

First attested in Scottish English (compare Scots stob, stobbe, stabb (“a pointed stick or stake; a thrust with a pointed weapon”)), from Middle English stabbe (“a stab”), probably a variant of Middle English stob, stub, stubbe (“pointed stick, stake, thorn, stub, stump”), from Old Norse stobbi, stubbi, cognate with Old English stybb. Cognate with Middle Dutch stobbe.

Supposed by some to derive from Scottish Gaelic stob (“to prick, to prod, to push, to thrust”); supposed by others to be from a Scots word.

Noun

stab (plural stabs)

1. An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object.
2. A wound made by stabbing.
3. Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.
4. (informal) An attempt.

   I'll give this thankless task a stab.

5. Criticism.
6. (music) A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.

   a horn stab

7. A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

stab (third-person singular simple present stabs, present participle stabbing, simple past and past participle stabbed)

1. (transitive) To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a pointed tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.

2. (transitive) To thrust in a stabbing motion.

3. (intransitive) To recklessly hit with the tip of a pointed object, such as a weapon or finger (often used with at).

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

4. (intransitive) To cause a sharp, painful sensation (often used with at).

5. (transitive, figuratively) To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.

6. (transitive) To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.
7. (transitive) To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.

Derived terms

• stabbee
• stabber

Translations

References

• stab in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• stab at OneLook Dictionary Search

Etymology 2

Clipping of stabilizer or stabiliser.

Noun

stab (plural stabs)

1. (aviation, slang) The horizontal or vertical stabilizer of an aircraft.

Etymology 3

Adjective

stab (not comparable)

1. (industrial relations) Clipping of established.
   • 1893, Proceedings of the Parliament of South Australia (page 313)

     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.

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

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

Noun

stab (plural not attested)

1. (industrial relations) Clipping of establishment.
   • 1892, The British Printer (volume 5, page 42)

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

Anagrams

• ABTs, ATBs, ATSB, Bast, Bats, SATB, TBAs, TBSA, Tabs, bast, bats, tabs

Danish

Etymology

From German Stab.

Noun

stab c (singular definite staben, plural indefinite stabe)

1. staff

Inflection

Lushootseed

Etymology

Proto-Salish *s-tam ("what?"; "something"), from *s- +? *tam (“thing; what”)

Determiner

stab

1. what (interrogative pronoun)
2. thing

Swedish

Etymology

From German Stab.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st??b/

Noun

stab c

1. a staff

Declension

References

Anagrams

• bast

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English abusen, then from either Old French abus (“improper use”), or from Latin ab?sus (“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of ab?tor (“make improper use of, consume, abuse”), from ab (“away”) + ?tor (“to use”). Equivalent to ab- +? use.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??bju?s/
• (General American) enPR: ?byo?os', IPA^(key): /??bjus/
• Hyphenation: ab?use

Noun

abuse (countable and uncountable, plural abuses)

1. Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom. [from around 1350 to 1470]

   Synonym: misuse

2. Misuse; improper use; perversion. [from mid 16^th c.]
   • 1788, Federalist, James Madison, Number 63

     Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.
3. (obsolete) A delusion; an imposture; misrepresentation; deception. [from mid 16^th c. – mid 17^th c.]
4. Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies. [from mid 16^th c.]
   • 1950 February 11, Alhaji Na-Alhaji in Gaskiya Fa Ti Kwabo:

     But he and all the southerners who indulge in this abuse in the newspapers should realize that this will not enable us to find a solution to our problem but will merely aggravate it.

   Synonyms: invective, contumely, reproach, scurrility, insult, opprobrium

5. (now rare) Catachresis. [from late 16^th c.]

   Synonym: abusio

6. Physical maltreatment; injury; cruel treatment. [from late 16^th c.]
7. Violation; defilement; rape; forcing of undesired sexual activity by one person on another, often on a repeated basis. [from late 16^th c.]

Usage notes

• (misuse, perversion): Typically followed by the word of.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English abusen, from Middle French abuser, from Latin ab?sus (“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of ab?tor (“to use up, misuse, consume”), from ab (“from, away from”) + ?tor (“to use”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??bju?z/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??bjuz/, enPR: ?byo?oz'
• Hyphenation: abuse

Verb

abuse (third-person singular simple present abuses, present participle abusing, simple past and past participle abused)

1. (transitive) To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to use improperly; to misuse; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert [from around 1350 to 1470.]
2. (transitive) To injure; to maltreat; to hurt; to treat with cruelty, especially repeatedly. [from mid 16^th c.]

   Synonyms: maltreat, injure
3. (transitive) To attack with coarse language; to insult; to revile; malign; to speak in an offensive manner to or about someone; to disparage. [from early 17^th c.]

   Synonyms: revile, reproach, vilify, vituperate; see also Thesaurus:offend

   • 1991, Yakubu Yahaya, quoted in: 2001, Toyin Falola, Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious Politics and Secular Ideologies, p. 199:

     So we were angered by this and we could not tolerate this one because prophet Mohammed has been abused so many times in this country. Awolowo abused him sometimes ago saying that he was more successful and popular that^[sic] Mohammed and Jesus.
4. (transitive) To imbibe a drug for a purpose other than it was intended; to intentionally take more of a drug than was prescribed for recreational reasons; to take illegal drugs habitually. [from mid 20^th c.]
5. (transitive, archaic) To violate; defile; to rape. [from around 1350 to 1470]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

6. (transitive, obsolete) Misrepresent; adulterate. [from around 1350 to 1470 – mid 18^th c.]
7. (transitive, obsolete) To deceive; to trick; to impose on; misuse the confidence of. [from late 15^th c. – early 19^th c.]
   • 1651-2, Jeremy Taylor, "Sermon VI, The House of Feasting; or, The Epicures Measures", in The works of Jeremy Taylor, Volume 1, page 283 (1831), edited by Thomas Smart Hughes

     When Cyrus had espied Astyages and his fellows coming drunk from a banquet loaden with variety of follies and filthiness, their legs failing them, their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud and abused by a double object

8. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) Disuse. [from late 15^th century – mid 16^th c.]

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002) , “abuse”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, ?ISBN, page 10

Anagrams

• aubes, beaus

French

Verb

abuse

1. first-person singular present indicative of abuser
2. third-person singular present indicative of abuser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of abuser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of abuser
5. second-person singular imperative of abuser

Anagrams

• aubes

Latin

Participle

ab?se

1. vocative masculine singular of ab?sus

Portuguese

Verb

abuse

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of abusar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of abusar
3. first-person singular imperative of abusar
4. third-person singular imperative of abusar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?buse/, [a???u.se]

Verb

abuse

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of abusar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of abusar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of abusar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of abusar.