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# jab

verb (jab, jabs, jabbed, jabbing); noun (a jab, jabs)

«jab» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To jab is to push something pointed quickly and hard into or at something, like a finger or stick. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#m1)
2. A jab is a quick, hard poke or punch. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#m2)
3. (informal, UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ) A jab is an injection, like a vaccine: "the flu jab". [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#m3)
4. (informal) A jab is a short unkind remark: "a jab at her spelling". [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#m4)

### In the lessons

In everyday life and health: children get jabs (vaccinations) from the nurse. In boxing, a jab is a fast straight punch. In stories, a character jabs a finger or a stick. Phrases: flu jab, have a jab, jab at, take a jab at.

### Examples

- He jabbed me with his elbow. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x1)
- We had our flu jabs at school. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x2)
- The nurse said the jab would only sting a little. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x3)
- She jabbed the button on the lift. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x4)
- The boxer threw a quick jab. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x5)
- Don't jab your pencil at people. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x6)
- His joke was a jab at my messy hair. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x7)
- All 28 children had the jab, in two groups of 14. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/#x8)

### Note

Regular verb, double b: jabbed, jabbing. Informal; formal word for injection is vaccination or injection. In US English people say "shot" instead of "jab".

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «jab» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jab/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«jab» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/jab.html) on Mova free.