stab

have/make a stab at something/doing something

to try to do something, or to try an activity that you have not done before. I'd never tried water skiing before, but I had a stab at it while I was in Greece. She made a reasonable stab at solving the problem.

a stab in the back

stab someone in the back - to do something harmful to someone who trusted you. To have your brother tell the press about your private life. That must feel like a real stab in the back.

See also: back

stab someone in the back

to do something harmful to someone who trusted you. He had been lied to, stabbed in the back, by people he thought were his friends.

See also: back

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make a stab at something

to try something new or different. We are making a stab at high-speed rail service.

stab someone in the back

to do something secretly to harm someone. A lot of women in this business think they have to stab each other in the back to get ahead. By supporting civil rights, some senators believed Truman had stabbed the southerners in the back.

See also: back