dead nettle

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noun

any of various plants belonging to the genus Lamium, of the mint family, native to the Old World, having opposite leaves and clusters of small reddish or white flowers.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of dead nettle

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dead nettle in a sentence

A curious dark blue dead-nettle (Dracocephalum speciosum) was found on dry ground at the same altitude.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921|Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury
But the yellow dead–nettle is the most interesting; it gives so useful a lesson in practical botany.
Country Rambles, and Manchester Walks and Wild Flowers|Leo H. Grindon
Our common henbit dead-nettle (Lamium amplexicaule) produces cleistogamic flowers, as do also some orchids.
Darwinism (1889)|Alfred Russel Wallace
But the nettle here referred to was probably the stingless dead-nettle.
Fresh Fields|John Burroughs

Its flowers resemble the scales in colour, and the dead-nettle in shape.
The Evolutionist at Large|Grant Allen

British Dictionary definitions for dead nettle

dead-nettle

noun

any Eurasian plant of the genus Lamium, such as L. alba (white dead-nettle), having leaves resembling nettles but lacking stinging hairs: family Lamiaceae (labiates)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012