stabber
(ˈstæbə(r))
[f. stab v. + -er1.]
1. a. One who stabs.
| 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet in Lyly's Wks. 1902 III. 399 One hath been an old stabber at passage. 1682 Otway Venice Preserved iii. ii, Mix with hired Slaves, Bravoes, and Common stabbers? 1752 Young Brothers iii. i, Blood-thirsty stabbers. 1813 Scott Rokeby i. xxii, Despite his craft, he heard with awe This ruffian stabber fix the law. 1865 Kingsley Herew. i, Whoever called me stabber to you, lies. |
b. transf.
| 1834 M. Edgeworth Helen ii. ix. (1848) 240, I set at defiance all the searchers and stabbers and custom-house officers. |
c. fig.
| 1603 Dekker Wonderf. Yr. D 3 b, How sudden a stabber this ruffianly swaggerer, Death, is. 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 205/1, I leave the Reader to guess what such a Stabber of Reputations would stick to perpetrate. 1858 O. W. Holmes Two Armies 23 The bloodless stabber [Death] calls by night. 1872 Spurgeon Treas. David Ps. lix. 12 Wretches who are persecutors in talk, burners and stabbers with the tongue. 1910 Goldw. Smith Remin. x. 181 The genius of the political stabber. |
d. Oil Industry. One who stabs pipes (see stab v. 7).
| 1922 F. M. Towl in D. T. Day Handbk. Petroleum Industry I. 410 The joint is lifted into place, and a man, the ‘stabber’, standing by the end of the joint with a handspike, moves the joint until it is straight with the last joint laid. 1976 M. Machlin Pipeline iv. 50, I worked as a stabber—that's the man who sits on the end of the walking beam and holds the pipe straight. |
2. a. Something which stabs, a knife, dagger, etc.
| 1581 J. Derricke Image Irel. ii. F ij, Long stabbers plucke thei forthe, in steede of handsome kniues. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 275/1 Sica,..a priuye or close dagger: a stabber. 1913 Engl. Rev. Nov. 516 We've got his stabber and he can't do us any harm. |
b. spec. (See quots.)
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 87 Holes in sails are made with an instrument, called a stabber or a pegging-awl. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Stabber, a marling-spike; a sailmaker's pricker. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Stabber, 1. (Leather.) A pegging-awl. A pricker. 2. (Nautical.) A marlinspike. 3. (Domestic.) A lady's awl for opening holes for eyelets. |
3. (See quot.)
| 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Stabber, a person (generally a boy) who is employed to stitch the upper leathers of boots and shoes with an awl. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss. |