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stinging nettle

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noun
  1. a bristly, stinging Eurasian nettle, Urtica dioica, naturalized in North America, having forked clusters of greenish flowers, the young foliage sometimes cooked and eaten like spinach by the Scots.
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Origin of stinging nettle

First recorded in 1515–25
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stinging nettle

Historical Examples

  • It lives in solitude on the stinging-nettle (Urtica dioica).

    The Insect World

    Louis Figuier

  • I might compare it with the sensation produced by the stinging-nettle.

    More Hunting Wasps

    J. Henri Fabre

  • All the party enjoyed the ride, except poor Hector, who complained bitterly of the pain he suffered from the stinging-nettle.

    The Young Berringtons

    W.H.G. Kingston

  • It possesses an urticaceous apparatus, which produces an effect similar to the stinging-nettle when applied to the skin.

    The Ocean World:

    Louis Figuier

  • The stinging-nettle crops up in every bed of flowers we raise; the bitter tonic flavours all we eat and drink.

British Dictionary definitions for stinging nettle

stinging nettle

noun
  1. See nettle (def. 1)
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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