nettle

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
6
Words With Friends
8
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈnɛtəl/
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˈnɛtəl/ · [ˈnɛɾəɫ]

Definition of nettle

26 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
See all 26 definitions

noun

  1. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  2. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  3. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  4. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  5. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  6. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  7. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  8. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  9. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  10. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  11. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
  12. Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
  13. Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
  14. Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
  15. Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
  16. Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
  17. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
  18. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
  19. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
  20. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
  21. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
  22. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
  23. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
  24. Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea nettle.

verb

  1. (transitive)Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting, causing a rash in someone.
    “The children were badly nettled after playing in the field.”
    “[…] I am whipp’d and scourged with rods, / Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear / Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.”
  2. (figuratively, transitive)To pique, irritate, vex or provoke.
    “[T]his is no lavv unto the vvoof of the neat Retiarie Spider, vvhich ſeems to vveave vvithout tranſverſion, and by the union of right lines to make out a continued ſurface, vvhich is beyond the common art of Textury, and may ſtill nettle Minerva the Godeſſe of that myſtery.”
    “His Miſtreſs: vvhoſe Miſtreſs, vvhat Miſtreſs; s'life hovv that little vvord has nettled me!”
    “I saw Mr. Williams was a little nettled at my Impatience […]”
    “Liu, whose political writings had nettled the Taiwanese authorities, was assassinated on October 15, last year, in Daly City […]”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English netle, netel, from Old English netle, netele, netel, from Proto-West Germanic *natilā (cognate with Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele (modern Dutch netel), German Nessel, Middle Danish nædlæ (“nettle”)), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *natǭ (of unknown origin, perhaps from the same source as net).

Anagrams of nettle

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