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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STAB, n.¹, adj., v.¹ Also staab, stabb. [stɑb]

I. n. 1. A wooden stake, or post, an upright in a fence or palisade (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai). Gen.Sc.; a stave in a wooden vessel. Also in combs. stab-gaud, a fishing-line attached to a small stake in the bank of a stream (Lnk. 1825 Jam.); stab-munted, of a gap in a hedge: repaired with stakes (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). See Munt, v.; paling-stab, fence-post (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). See Munt, v.; paling-stab, fence-post (Sc. 1927 J. Millar Scotland Yet 104).Gsw. 1723 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 176:
Twenty six pund for daills and kaibers for weigh house broad and trone feet and stabs to cassiers.Rnf. 1760 W. M. Metcalfe Lordship Paisley (1912) 48:
For making Stabbs to Inclose part of the Garden.Rnf. 1805 G. McIndoe Poems 10:
The seat, a stab, the heel-pins rotten.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals vi:
The plantations supplied him with stabs to make stake and rice between his fields.Slg. 1837 Justiciary Reports (1838) 489:
I took a pailing stab, and drove in his skull.Fif. 1841 Trans. Highl. Soc. 303:
The roof is in the first instance artificially kept up by fir stabs.Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 16:
A verra auncient an curious Punch-Bowl made o' oak stabs, wi bress girds on't.e.Lth. 1903 J. Lumsden Toorle 267:
The stakes — Ca'd ‘stabs,' langsyne — for haudin' up the nets.Sc. 1953 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 455:
I couldn't see how that hole had been made, unless he'd fallen on a paling stab.Bwk. 1997:
A stab is a pointed fence-post which is driven into the ground rather than one which is sited in a pit.

Phrs. (1) stab and ramble, a fencing made of posts and brushwood interlaced, see Rammel, n.¹; (2) stab and rice, id., see Rice, n., 3.; (3) stab and stow, completely, absolutely, entirely. Cf. Stick.(1) Dmb. 1753 Session Papers, Buchanan v. Towart (5 Dec.) 1:
The Master should from Time to Time furnish great Timber for the Houses, and Stabb and Ramble for upholding the Dykes.(3) Sc. 1722 W. Hamilton Wallace x. iii.:
Who set their lodgings all in a fair low About their ears and burnt them stab and stow.Sc. 1832 Chambers's Jnl. (Dec.) 345:
They'll be roupit out, stab and stow.Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 60:
The forty-five, that unco time, fan nane cud ca' neither hilt nor hair, stab nor stow, nor yet ane's lugs their nain.

2. The stem or stump of a plant. Also in Eng. dial.Slk. 1829 Quarterly Jnl. Agric. I. 640:
They're gaun wi' the young clover bodily an' they'll no leave a stab o't.

3. A stout thick-set man (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); Sh., Uls. 1971); also of a half-grown cod (Jak.).Gsw. 1863 J. Young Ingle Nook 89:
'Twas just our Rab, The clatty, daidlin', drucken stab.Sh. 1886 J. Burgess Sketches 30:
He's a stabb o' a sheeld, an' raelly wirks awa' laek a man.

II. adj., from an attrib. use of I.: short, stocky in physique (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Comb. stab-callant, = I. 3. (Rxb. 1825 Jam.). Deriv. stabby, stout, stocky; fig. substantial, solid. Jak. gives the form stabbin s.v. stabblin.Ayr. 1805 A. Aitken Poems (1873) 61:
May ye ne'er want guid stabby brose.Ayr. 1885 J. Meikle Yachting Yarns 84:
A stabby usefu' kin' o' callan'.

III. v. To fix stakes in the ground, to enclose with stakes or posts (Cld. 1825 Jam.; Sh. 1971).Bte. 1758 Rothesay T.C. Records (1933) II. 823:
The visiteing marking out and stabbing of the ground of the new house to be built.Abd. 1886 A. Murcar MS. Diary (10 Nov.):
Stowing and stabbing Ricks all day.