stinging nettle

American  

noun

stinging nettles plural

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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stinging nettle British  

noun

1. See nettle

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• stinging nettles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stinging nettle

First recorded in 1515–25

Example Sentences

Washington stood quietly in the back, letting Andrea Jimenez of Herb Walk L.A. guide the group in identifying plants from stinging nettle to California sagebrush.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2023

On the side of the road, he got a stinging nettle rash.

From New York Times • May 21, 2019

In the understory, last fall’s leaves softened by winter’s rainfall are punctuated with the first growth of stinging nettle.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 21, 2017

There have been times where it has felt like someone is holding a stinging nettle to my face.

From BBC • Oct. 14, 2016

Pull it up like a weed; drop it on the rubbish heap as if it were a stinging nettle; and let some harmonious thought grow in its place.

From The Joyful Heart by Schauffler, Robert Haven