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

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 Hawthorne, Julian

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 Houghton, W. (William)

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 Furneaux, William S.

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

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 Buckley, Arabella B.

There is another flower, called the Salvia, which belongs to the same family as our dead-nettle, and I think you will agree with me that its way of dusting the bee's back is most clever.

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

Of the despised dead-nettle he tells us that “the flowers baked with sugar, as roses are, maketh the vitall spirits more fresh and lively.”

From The Old English Herbals by Rohde, Eleanour Sinclair

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 Buckley, Arabella B.