jab

Etymology

It is a variant, originally Scots, from English job (“to strike, pierce, thrust”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} That verb is from Middle English jobben (“to jab, thrust, peck”), recorded before 1500 in the “Promptorium Parvulorum”,^[9][4] of uncertain or unknown origin;^[4][5] the MED and Partridge think it probably imitative,^[9][10] and the OED takes it as apparently imitating the sound or effect of a stab or prod, comparing bob and jog.^[2] Klein also calls jab imitative.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To thrust or strike with a point: 1813, in Etymonline's dating.^[5] The OED's first record of both the verb and the noun is in 1825, in the supplement to Jamieson's “Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language”,^[2][4] and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged dates the verb to 1827.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a thrust or poke with the point of something, comes from the verb.^[5][2] A punch with the fist is recorded from 1889 in Etymonline,^[5] the verb in this sense from 1901 in the OED,^[2] and modern dictionaries define the boxing sense as a short straight punch with the leading hand.^[12][7] In American drug slang a jab was an injection of a narcotic from 1898, and to jab was to inject drugs from 1905;^[13] the general sense of an injection with a hypodermic needle is recorded from 1914, in a vocabulary of criminal slang,^[2][5] and Etymonline calls it newspaper headlinese.^[5] Mapping Metaphor records a strong link between words for drug use and words for impact from the first half of the 20th century.^[14] Collins labels the injection sense informal, in both the verb and the noun.^[7] A jab has also been a critical or mocking remark since 1905.^[2] In Scotland and northern English dialects (Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire) the verb meant to prick sharply, to stab, or to peck as a bird does.^[15]

Timeline

• 1813 – verb, to thrust or strike with a point.^[5]
• 1825 – noun, an abrupt blow with something pointed.^[2][5]
• 1827 – to thrust something into a thing or person; to stab.^[2][12]
• 1889 – a punch with the fist.^[5]
• 1898 – an injection of a narcotic drug, in American slang.^[13]
• 1901 – verb, to hit with the fist.^[2]
• 1905 – a critical or mocking remark.^[2]
• 1914 – an injection with a hypodermic needle.^[2][5]
• 1938 – verb, to inject or inoculate.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To poke or thrust sharply, especially with something pointed: She jabbed at the screen with her finger.^[7][12][2]
2. To hit with a quick short blow, especially in boxing.^[7][12][2]
3. (informal) To give an injection to.^[7][2]

Noun

1. A sharp poke or stab.^[7][12][2]
2. A quick short blow, especially a straight punch with the leading hand in boxing.^[7][12]
3. (informal) An injection: Staff were offered a tetanus jab.^[7][2]
4. A critical or mocking remark, often with at.^[2]

Word family

• jabbingly

Related words

• job

Usage notes

In Cumberland dialect a separate jab meant to spill.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
15. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)