noun
- any plant of the genus Urtica, covered with stinging hairs.Compare nettle family.
- any of various allied or similar plants.
verb (used with object), net·tled, net·tling.
- to irritate, annoy, or provoke.
- to sting as a nettle does.
Idioms
- grasp the nettle, Australian. to undertake or tackle an unpleasant task.
noun
- any weedy plant of the temperate urticaceous genus Urtica, such as U. dioica (stinging nettle), having serrated leaves with stinging hairs and greenish flowers
- any of various other urticaceous plants with stinging hairs or spines
- any of various plants that resemble urticaceous nettles, such as the dead-nettle, hemp nettle, and horse nettle
- grasp the nettle to attempt or approach something with boldness and courage
verb (tr)
- to bother; irritate
- to sting as a nettle does
n.stinging plant, Old English netele, from Proto-Germanic *natilon (cf. 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]. v.c.1400, “to beat with nettles,” from nettle (n.). Figurative sense of “irritate, provoke” is from 1560s. Related: Nettled; nettling.