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stab in the back

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.09 sec.
stab someone in the back 
1. Lit. to thrust a knife into someone's back. Max planned to stab his hostage in the back if he screamed. The murderer stabbed his victim in the back and fled.
2. Fig. to betray someone. I wish you would not gossip about me. There is no need to stab me in the back.
See also: back, stab

stab somebody 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, stab

stab somebody 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, stab


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? References in classic literature
He was leaning, with folded arms, over a bale of blankets, engaged in bargaining, when he received a deadly stab in the back, and fell down the companion-way.
I have no mind to get a knock on the head or a stab in the back directly I am let out.
Hardened in treachery and in all the tricks and wiles of hatred, he could take a stab in the back and not let his face tell of it.
 
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