NETTLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does nettle mean? 

• NETTLE (noun)
  The noun NETTLE has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: NETTLE used as a noun is very rare.

• NETTLE (verb)
  The verb NETTLE has 2 senses:

1. sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation

2. cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations

  Familiarity information: NETTLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NETTLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("nettle" is a kind of...):

weed (any plant that crowds out cultivated plants)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nettle"):

stinging nettle; Urtica dioica (perennial Eurasian nettle established in North America having broad coarsely toothed leaves with copious stinging hairs)

Roman nettle; Urtica pipulifera (annual European nettle with stinging foliage and small clusters of green flowers)

Laportea canadensis; wood nettle (American perennial herb found in rich woods and provided with stinging hairs; provides fibers used for textiles)

clearweed; dead nettle; Pilea pumilla; richweed (a plants of the genus Pilea having drooping green flower clusters and smooth translucent stems and leaves)

artillery plant; Pilea microphylla (tropical American stingless nettle that discharges its pollen explosively)

friendship plant; panamica; panamiga; Pilea involucrata (low stingless nettle of Central and South America having velvety brownish-green toothed leaves and clusters of small green flowers)

Derivation:

nettle (sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation)

• NETTLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they nettle    ... he / she / it nettles   
Past simple: nettled   
Past participle: nettled   
-ing form: nettling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

nettle; urticate

Hypernyms (to "nettle" is one way to...):

bite; burn; sting (cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort)

Verb group:

urticate (whip with or as with nettles)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex

Context example:

It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves

Hypernyms (to "nettle" is one way to...):

displease (give displeasure to)

Verb group:

chafe (feel extreme irritation or anger)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "nettle"):

get; get under one's skin (irritate)

eat into; fret; grate; rankle (gnaw into; make resentful or angry)

peeve (cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful)

ruffle (trouble or vex)

fret (cause annoyance in)

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)

antagonise; antagonize (provoke the hostility of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to nettle Sue

 Context examples 

“Quite so!” said he, a little nettled.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had been growing nettled before, but now he pulled himself together.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His bedstead, covered with a tumbled and ragged piece of patchwork, was in the den he had come from, where another little window showed a prospect of more stinging-nettles, and a lame donkey.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Therefore, ingredients in indole-3-carbinol/calcium/Schizandra/vitamin D3/milk thistle/stinging nettle/lignan-based nutritional capsule may alter estrogen balance and may protect against mammary carcinogenesis.

(Indole-3-Carbinol/Calcium/Schizandra/Vitamin D3/Milk Thistle/Stinging Nettle/Lignan-Based Nutritional Capsule, NCI Thesaurus)

"Can't a fellow take a little innocent amusement now and then without losing his respectability?" asked Laurie, looking nettled.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

No, indeed, Mrs. Fairfax! exclaimed I, nettled; he is nothing like my father!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I am not fond of nettles or thistles, or heath blossoms.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Persuaded as Miss Bingley was that Darcy admired Elizabeth, this was not the best method of recommending herself; but angry people are not always wise; and in seeing him at last look somewhat nettled, she had all the success she expected.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

One day, at dinner, this malicious little cub was so nettled with something I had said to him, that, raising himself upon the frame of her majesty’s chair, he took me up by the middle, as I was sitting down, not thinking any harm, and let me drop into a large silver bowl of cream, and then ran away as fast as he could.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Climbing plants are monstrous and luxuriant, but others which have never been known to climb elsewhere learn the art as an escape from that somber shadow, so that the common nettle, the jasmine, and even the jacitara palm tree can be seen circling the stems of the cedars and striving to reach their crowns.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)