The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sting \Sting\, n. [AS. sting a sting. See Sting, v. t.]
(Zo["o]l.) Any sharp organ of offense and defense, especially when connected with a poison gland, and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The sting of a bee or wasp is a modified ovipositor. The caudal sting, or spine, of a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion.
(Bot.) A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secrets an acrid fluid, as in nettles. The points of these hairs usually break off in the wound, and the acrid fluid is pressed into it.
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Anything that gives acute pain, bodily or mental; as, the stings of remorse; the stings of reproach.
The sting of death is sin.
--1 Cor. xv. 56. The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging. ``The lurking serpent's mortal sting.''
--Shak.A goad; incitement.
--Shak.-
The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
Sting moth (Zo["o]l.), an Australian moth ( Doratifera vulnerans) whose larva is armed, at each end of the body, with four tubercles bearing powerful stinging organs.
Sting ray. (Zo["o]l.) See under 6th Ray.
Sting winkle (Zo["o]l.), a spinose marine univalve shell of the genus Murex, as the European species ( Murex erinaceus). See Illust. of Murex.