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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
nettle
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
nettle rash
stinging nettle
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
sting
▪ The burn of the nettle stings might fade, but not the burning heat of her body.
▪ A shocked demeanour and a couple of nettle stings to valiant rescuer Beverley were the only legacies.
▪ She felt a mild nettle sting.
■ VERB
grasp
▪ Mellor grasped the nettle and told how he felt like Daniel in the lion's den.
▪ Then it may be able to grasp the nettles of boundaries and ethos and see them as secondary.
▪ The community has also grasped the nettle of the unemployment argument for development.
▪ Since impacts are the product of population numbers and consumption, all nations should grasp the nettle of eventual zero population growth.
▪ Mr. Thornton and Mr. Taylor grasped that nettle.
▪ A new field of activity seemed to be opening up for him if only he had the courage to grasp the nettle.
▪ Mrs Bottomley later dismissed suggestions that she had failed to grasp the nettle.
▪ When the right hon. Gentleman came to that office, he had the opportunity to grasp the nettle of prison reform.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
grasp the nettle
▪ A new field of activity seemed to be opening up for him if only he had the courage to grasp the nettle.
▪ Down in Alcester they have grasped the nettle.
▪ Mellor grasped the nettle and told how he felt like Daniel in the lion's den.
▪ Mrs Bottomley later dismissed suggestions that she had failed to grasp the nettle.
▪ Since impacts are the product of population numbers and consumption, all nations should grasp the nettle of eventual zero population growth.
▪ The community has also grasped the nettle of the unemployment argument for development.
▪ Then it may be able to grasp the nettles of boundaries and ethos and see them as secondary.
▪ When the right hon. Gentleman came to that office, he had the opportunity to grasp the nettle of prison reform.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Avoid spraying your plants with pesticides, grow plants that encourage beneficial insects such as carrots, parsley, parsnips and nettles.
▪ Focused on a fascinating project, they are oblivious to the nettles of working together in ordinary circumstances.
▪ He told me he was fifteen, and showed me his stings from nettles.
▪ Her ankles and shins were scratched and bloodied, her stockings shredded by the trackside weeds and nettles.
▪ Reaching about a foot in height, whorls of rose-purple flowers the same shape as dead nettles are produced in May.
▪ The stinging nettles and Luke Goddard seemed oddly connected in his mindand I thought I could half understand this.
▪ Tim Renton could be said to have been the first to grasp this nettle.
▪ To try and get to it by going round outside the garden wall meant ploughing through waist-high nettles and clumps of bramble.
II.verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The topic of a Midwestern identity has nettled writers for decades.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Nettle

Nettle \Net"tle\, n. [AS. netele; akin to D. netel, G. nessel, OHG. nezz["i]la, nazza, Dan. nelde, n["a]lde, Sw. n["a]ssla; cf, Lith. notere.] (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 cham[ae]dryoides 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. Note: The term nettle has been given to many plants related to, or to some way resembling, the true nettle; as: Australian nettle, a stinging tree or shrub of the genus Laportea (as Laportea gigas and Laportea moroides); -- also called nettle tree. Bee nettle, Hemp nettle, a species of Galeopsis. See under Hemp. Blind nettle, Dead nettle, a harmless species of Lamium. False nettle ( B[ae]hmeria cylindrica), a plant common in the United States, and related to the true nettles. Hedge nettle, a species of Stachys. See under Hedge. Horse nettle ( Solanum Carolinense). See under Horse. nettle tree.

  1. Same as Hackberry.

  2. See Australian nettle (above).

    Spurge nettle, a stinging American herb of the Spurge family ( Jatropha urens).

    Wood nettle, a plant ( Laportea Canadensis) which stings severely, and is related to the true nettles.

    Nettle cloth, a kind of thick cotton stuff, japanned, and used as a substitute for leather for various purposes.

    Nettle rash (Med.), an eruptive disease resembling the effects of whipping with nettles.

    Sea nettle (Zo["o]l.), a medusa.

Nettle

Nettle \Net"tle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nettled; p. pr. & vb. n. Nettling.] To fret or sting; to irritate or vex; to cause to experience sensations of displeasure or uneasiness not amounting to violent anger.

The princes were so nettled at the scandal of this affront, that every man took it to himself.
--L'Estrange.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
nettle

stinging plant, Old English netele, from Proto-Germanic *natilon (cognates: Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele, Dutch netel, German Nessel, M.Da. nædlæ "nettle"), diminutive of *naton, perhaps from PIE root *ned- "to twist, knot" (see net (n.)). "[N]ettles or plants of closely related genera such as hemp were used as a source of fiber" [Watkins].

nettle

c.1400, "to beat with nettles," from nettle (n.). Figurative sense of "irritate, provoke" is from 1560s. Related: Nettled; nettling.\n\nNettled. Teized, provoked, out of temper. He or she has pissed on a nettle; said of one who is pevish or out of temper.

[Grose, "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1785]

Wiktionary
nettle

n. 1 Any plant, the foliage of which is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash. 2 # Especially, most species of herb genus ''Urtica'', the stinging nettles: 3 ## Most, but not all, subspecies of ''Urtica dioica'', 4 ## (taxlink Urtica incisa species noshow=1); 5 # wood nettle ((taxlink Laportea canadensis species noshow=1)); 6 # (vern bull nettle Bull nettle)s and (vern: spurge nettle)s of genus (taxlink Cnidoscolus genus noshow=1): 7 ## (taxlink Cnidoscolus stimulosus species noshow=1), (vern: bull nettle), (vern: spurge nettle), 8 ## (taxlink Cnidoscolus texanus species noshow=1), (vern: Texas bull nettle), 9 ## (taxlink Cnidoscolus urens species noshow=1), (vern: bull nettle), 10 ## (vern nettle tree Nettle trees) or (vern: tree nettle)s: 11 ### Various species of the genus (taxlink Dendrocnide genus noshow=1), 12 ### (taxlink Urera baccifera species noshow=1), 13 ### (taxlink Urtica ferox species noshow=1); 14 # (vern: rock nettle) ((taxlink Eucnide genus noshow=1)); 15 # (vern: small-leaved nettle) ((taxlink Dendrocnide photinophylla species noshow=1)). 16 Certain plants that have spines or prickles: 17 # (vern: ball nettle) ((taxlink Solanum carolinense species noshow=1)); 18 # (taxlink Solanum elaeagnifolium species noshow=1), (vern: bull nettle), (vern: silver-leaf nettle), (vern: white horse-nettle); 19 # (taxlink Solanum dimidiatum species noshow=1), (vern: western horse-nettle), (vern: robust horse-nettle); 20 # (taxlink Solanum rostratum species noshow=1), (vern: horse-nettle); 21 # ''Celtis''. 22 Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of ''Urtica'': 23 # (vern: dead nettle), (vern: dumb nettle) (''Lamium''), particularly (taxlink Lamium album species noshow=1), (vern: white nettle); 24 # (vern: false nettle) ((taxlink Boehmeria genus noshow=1), family Urticaceae); 25 # (vern: flame nettle) or (vern: painted nettle) (''Coleus''); 26 # (vern: hedge nettle) (''Stachys''); 27 # (vern: hemp nettle) ((taxlink Galeopsis genus noshow=1)); 28 # (vern: horse nettle) (taxlink Agastache urticifolia species noshow=1), 29 # (vern: nilgiri nettle), (vern: Himalayan giant nettle) ((taxlink Girardinia diversifolia species noshow=1), family Urticaceae). 30 Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea nettle. vb. 1 (context literally English) Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting causing a rash in someone. 2 (context figuratively English) To pique, irritate, vex or provoke someone.

WordNet
nettle
  1. v. sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation [syn: urticate]

  2. cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves" [syn: annoy, rag, get to, bother, get at, irritate, rile, nark, gravel, vex, chafe, devil]

nettle

n. any of numerous plants having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact (especially of the genus Urtica or family Urticaceae)

Wikipedia
Nettle (disambiguation)

Nettle refers to any of various plant species.

Nettle or nettles may also refer to:

Nettle (cryptographic library)

Nettle is a cryptographic library designed to fit easily in a wide range of toolkits and applications. It began as a collection of low-level cryptography functions from lsh in 2001. Since June 2009 (version 2.0) Nettle is a GNU package.

Usage examples of "nettle".

A crystalline alkaloid which is fatal to frogs in a dose of one centigramme, has been isolated from the common Stinging Nettle.

His attitude toward her verged on the avuncular, and it nettled Julia from time to time.

I opened the gate and prepared to approach it, I found myself concentrating upon the pale bindweed, the dock and nettle, growing up among the broken stones of the path.

There were discarded cans and bottles around me, and it looked as if this entire area had become the dustbin of the neighbourhood: cardboard boxes, pieces of old newspaper, rusted metal, twisted plastic, had been left among the nettles and the pale bindweed as if they too might grow and flourish beneath the sky.

The pollen sacs of the nettles were ripe, and every now and then the vigil would be enlivened by the dehiscence of these, the bursting of the sacs sounding exactly like the crack of a pistol, and the pollen grains as big as buckshot pattered all about them.

This is said to be one of the five bitter herbs ordered to be eaten by the Jews during the Feast of the Passover, the other four being Coriander, Horehound, Lettuce, and Nettle.

Nettle is a good medicine for them that cannot breathe unless they hold their necks upright: and being eaten boiled with periwinkles it makes the body soluble.

Nettle had timed the bust-out to coincide with the empanelment of a brand-new grand jury for Judge Hammit, known as a tough, law-and-order kind of guy who would choose his jury commission carefully.

Mace and Nettle into the din and fumy stench of the first bar along the front.

Miss Lavinia, who is nettled at Verty, and thus is guily of what she is afterwards ashamed of.

He went foraging and soon returned with his hands full of pale, knobbly roots with dark earth and a few sprigs of spite nettle still clinging to them.

Japanese knotweed or nettles, both of which can be destroyed by using a recommended herbicide, available from Jekyll Garden Centres.

She passed the old railway bridge which crossed the run-off: it was pretty in summer, with loosestrife and nettles and long grass.

Ouer the middle bending of the garland, and vnder the proiecture of the lyppe of the vessell, there was fixed and placed the head of an olde man, with his beard and haire of his head transformed into nettle leaues, and out of whose mouth gushed out the water of the fountayne by art continually into the hollownes of the broad vessell vnder this.

This description greatly nettled Goering during an interrogation at Nuremberg on August 2S and 29, 1945.