Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various plants of the genus Urtica, having toothed leaves, unisexual apetalous flowers, and stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact.
  • noun Any of various hairy, stinging, or prickly plants.
  • transitive verb To sting with or as if with a nettle.
  • transitive verb To irritate; vex.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To sting; irritate or vex; provoke; pique.
  • noun Nautical, same as knittle, 2.
  • noun A herbaceous plant of the genus Urtica, armed with stinging hairs.
  • noun One of several plants of other genera of the nettle family (Urticaceæ); any nettle-like plant: generally with a qualifying word.
  • noun The white dead-nettle, Lamium album.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To fret or sting; to irritate or vex; to cause to experience sensations of displeasure or uneasiness not amounting to violent anger.
  • noun (Bot.) A plant of the genus Urtica, covered with minute sharp hairs containing a poison that produces a stinging sensation. Urtica gracilis is common in the Northern, and Urtica chamædryoides in the Southern, United States. The common European species, Urtica urens and Urtica dioica, are also found in the Eastern united States. Urtica pilulifera is the Roman nettle of England.
  • noun a kind of thick cotton stuff, japanned, and used as a substitute for leather for various purposes.
  • noun (Med.) an eruptive disease resembling the effects of whipping with nettles.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a medusa.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A herb of the genus Urtica, which is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  • noun The non-stinging plant deadnettle, also in the nettle family, Urticaceae.
  • noun Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea-nettle.
  • verb literally Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting causing a rash in someone.
  • verb figuratively To pique, irritate, vex or provoke someone.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of numerous plants having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact (especially of the genus Urtica or family Urticaceae)
  • verb cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
  • verb sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English netele; see ned- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old English netle, netele, netel from Proto-Germanic *natilōn (cogate with Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele (modern netel), German Nessel, Middle Danish nædlæ "nettle"), a diminutive of *naton (of unknown origin, perhaps from the same source as net).

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Examples

  • Naturalist we are told, that these names are omitted, 'for we call a nettle but a nettle, and the faults of fools their folly,' -- that exclusive good he finds both passive and active, and this also is one of those primary distinctions which 'is formed in all things,' and so too is the _subdivision_ of passive good which follows.

    The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded Delia Bacon 1835

  • He will make over to the ignominy of ignorant and barbaric ages, -- 'for we call a nettle but a nettle,' he will turn into a forgotten pageant of the rude, early, instinctive ages, the yet brutal ages of an undeveloped humanity, that triumphant reception at home, of the Conqueror of Foreign States.

    The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded Delia Bacon 1835

  • a monkey, poison to a nettle, and folly to a fool, they called a nettle

    Proserpina, Volume 1 Studies Of Wayside Flowers John Ruskin 1859

  • We need to be very transparent, and very clear that this cannot continue, but at the same time grasp a very difficult political nettle, which is to address the problem of pay at the senior levels of the Civil Service.

    Treasury investigates 4,000 civil service jobs in tax deals review 2012

  • I've also been looking to include more raw garlic in my diet as I've been fighting off a few infections so I hit on the idea of nettle pesto.

    green/back esther 2007

  • This year we are grasping an even more difficult nettle, which is human rights in the two traditions.

    The Guardian Interview 2006

  • The sting of the nettle is a very curious and interesting object under the microscope.

    Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children W. Houghton

  • The bird spends the day searching for food in such places -- hence its name nettle-creeper -- creeping along the hedges, under brambles and thorns, and builds its nest in the locality to which it is accustomed.

    Field and Hedgerow Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies Richard Jefferies 1867

  • "We need to be very transparent, and very clear that this cannot continue, but at the same time grasp a very difficult political nettle, which is to address the problem of pay at the senior levels of the Civil Service."

    The Guardian World News Patrick Wintour 2012

  • But an invasive pest called the nettle moth caterpillar can take the fun out

    WN.com - Articles related to US scientists find key to creating drought resistant crops 2009

Comments

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  • Ortie

    June 18, 2008

  • to irritate

    August 1, 2009