stab (redirected from stabbers)

*try at someone and *shot at someone; *crack at someone; *go at someone *stab at someone

an attempt to convince someone of something; an attempt to try to get information out of someone; an attempt to try to train someone to do something. (The expressions with shot and crack are more informal than the main entry phrase. (*Typically: take ~; have ~; give someone ~.) Let me have a crack at him. I can make him talk. Let the new teacher have a try at Billy. She can do marvels with unwilling learners. Give me a crack at him. I know how to make these bums talk.

See also: try

*try at something and *shot at something; *crack at something; *go at something; *stab at something; *whack at something

to take a turn at trying to do something. (*Typically: take ~; have ~; give someone ~.) All of us wanted to have a try at the prize-winning shot. Let Sally have a shot at it. If you let me have a crack at it, maybe I can be successful.

See also: try

stab someone in something

to stab someone in a particular place. Max stabbed a prison guard in the belly and left him to die. Tom stabbed himself in the thigh by accident.

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 something at someone or something

to thrust something at someone or something. The hunter stabbed a stick at the bear to see if there was any life at all left in it. The stork tried to stab its beak at me as I held it, but I held tight while the vet examined it.

stab at someone or something

to thrust at someone or something with something sharp, such as a knife. The horrid man stabbed at me and missed. The stork stabbed at the frog with its beak.

thrust something into someone or something and thrust something in

to stab or run something into someone or something. The knight thrust his lance into the villain. He thrust in his knife.

See also: thrust

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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.

See also: have

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

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make a stab at something also have a stab at something

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

See also: make

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