jab

To jab is to hit with a short straight blow. No wind-up — straight out and straight back.

Boxing gave us the technical sense, where the jab is the quick lead-hand punch used to keep an opponent at distance. Away from the ring it means any short poke, so you jab a finger at somebody or jab at a button. British English uses the noun for an injection, and going for your jab means getting vaccinated, which became one of the most-used words of the pandemic. A verbal jab is a small cutting remark.