To stab repeatedly or thoroughly, often used in archaic or literary contexts to describe violent action.
From prefix 'be-' (meaning to make or cause) combined with 'stab,' following the Old English pattern of intensifying verbs with the 'be-' prefix.
The 'be-' prefix in archaic English was a productivity factory for verbs—you could add it to almost any action word to intensify it, creating words like 'befriend,' 'beguile,' and 'bestab' that follow the same logical pattern even if most aren't used today.
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