Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a try, an attempt; thus have/make/take a stab at v., to try.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 May 18/3: Here is a stab from the Court Journal:- ‘Mrs. J. Henniker Heaton. – Train of a rich shade of moss Lyon velvet, lined in the same shade of poult-de-soie, and trimmed with satin and large bunches of shaded daturas’.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 15: stab, to make a To make a blind attempt to answer a question when one is uncertain, but feels compelled to say something.
1907		D. Runyon ‘The Defence of Strikerville’ in From First To Last (1954) 15: A kid making a stab at reveille [...] gets us out in the morning.
1911		D. Runyon ‘The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew’ in From First to Last (1954) 69: Once in a while some kid took a stab at it, but if he got caught by Soupbone he regretted it the rest of his life.
1919		letter in M. Baldwin Canteening Overseas (1920) 187: I answered that I was making a stab at it.
1929		E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 171: He ought to make a stab at selling anyway.
1939		J. Weidman What’s In It For Me? 163: I could make a stab at it.
1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 157: shot: to have a shot=to have a try [...] A less common equivalent is to have a stab.
1943		Harper’s Mag. June 87: Surprising numbers of them have seemed almost willing to leave their farms and to make a stab at some other way of life [DA].
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 41: He’ll make another stab at it.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 27: I sat right down and had a stab at it.
1976		(con. 1950s) J. Wolveridge Ain’t it Grand 92: I fancied being my own boss, so I had a stab at it.
1986		(con. 1910s) P. O’Farrell Tell me, Sean O’Farrell 46: The Brothers told me to have a stab at it and I did well and was called for an interview in September of 1914.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 34: He had a stab at the straight life.
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 96: One of the Roanokes tried to take a stab at the presidency last time around.

2. (US black) one’s style, type of behaviour.

1985

T.R. Houser Central Sl. 49: stab [...] ‘Robbery? no man, that ain’t my stab.’.