Jump To:

• dead nettle
  dead nettle

  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.
• 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)

dead nettle

American  

noun

1. 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.

---

dead-nettle British  

noun

1. 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)

---

Etymology

Origin of dead nettle

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dead nettle dead-nettle

There is some general resemblance, however, between the real nettles and the so-called dead nettles; the leaves for instance of the white dead nettle are very like those of the stinger.

From Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children by W. (William) Houghton

I had succeeded in gathering some labiates, the dead nettle, the pyramidal bell-flower and the wild thyme, when in the midst of my occupation, I heard the trot of a horse.

From The Lock and Key Library The most interesting stories of all nations: French novels by Julian Hawthorne

It feeds throughout the winter on the roots of numerous plants, including the dock, dandelion, burdock, white dead nettle, black horehound, and the hop.

From Butterflies and Moths (British) by William S. Furneaux

In particular the discovery that the golden dead-nettle and the zebra plant use a dual-function flavin-containing monooxygenase, rather than two different cytochrome P450 enzymes as in grasses, was completely unexpected.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2023

And then again they struck into a by-lane with tall hedges, the banks underneath which were bright with stitchwort and speedwell and white dead-nettle.

From Prince Fortunatus by William Black

If the bee went from a dead-nettle to a geranium, the dust would be lost, for it would be of no use to any other plant but a dead- nettle.

From The Fairy-Land of Science by Arabella B. Buckley

Passing up the Lauterbrünnen valley, I came upon some wild raspberries and quantities of the fine, large-flowered sage, Salvia glutinosa, with its yellow flowers, in shape like those of the dead-nettle, but much bigger.

From More Science From an Easy Chair by Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester

Tell me, has not the Salvia, while remaining so much the same shape as the dead-nettle, devised a wonderful contrivance to make use of the visits of the bee?

From The Fairy-Land of Science by Arabella B. Buckley