nettlen.
/ˈnɛtl/, U.S. /ˈnɛd(ə)l/ 1.
a. Any of various plants with inconspicuous green flowers and (usually) stinging hairs that constitute the genus Urtica (family Urticaceae); esp. the Eurasian plant U. dioica, which has strongly toothed ovate leaves and is an abundant weed of damp waste ground, roadsides, etc. (also called (common) stinging nettle). Also (usually with distinguishing word): any of various plants of other genera and families with stinging hairs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun]
nettleeOE
dock-nettlea1300
Greekish nettlec1450
Roman nettle1578
red nettle1611
ettle1688
urtica1706
bur-nettle1714
pill nettle1714
nettle plant1764
richweed1814
clearweed1822
sting-nettle1822
ongaonga1842
nettlewort1846
urtical1846
jinny1876
eOE Corpus Gloss. (1890) 121/2 Uerticeta, netlan.
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. xxvi. 68 Wyrc baþo do earban to & cersan & smale netelan.
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. xxxvi. 86 Redic wealwyrt, þa greatan netlan, wermod eorþ geallan.
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) clxxviii. 222 Genim þysse wyrte [seaw] þe man urticam & oðrum naman netele nemneþ.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 593 Among þe wode among þe netle, Þu sittest and singst.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 156 (MED) Þe ueldes of þe fole sleuuolle..weren uolle of nettlen and of þornes.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 461 Þe netle groweþ somtyme next þe rose.
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 7514 (MED) With-oute hys celle, þornes wore And netles grewe þat byten sore.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 65 Humbloks and nettles and swilk oþer wedes.
1525 tr. H. von Brunschwig Noble Experyence Vertuous Handy Warke Surg. xcii. R ij b With water of the styngynge nettylles.
1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Jane Shore iii In groping flowers wyth Nettels stong we are.
1631 E. Jorden Disc. Nat. Bathes xi. 71 The heat of the Sunne is no more apt to breed a Nettle than a Dock.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner i. ii. ii. 18 Thistles, Nettles, and a Thousand other Plants of no Use to us.
a1750 A. Hill Verses in Scotl. in Wks. (1753) IV. 120 Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains.
1810 G. Crabbe Borough xviii. 247 At the Wall's base the fiery Nettle springs.
1817 S. R. Brown Western Gazetteer 336 [The timber land in Erie Co., Pa.] is covered with a luxuriant..growth of nettles, the genuine Urtica Whitlowi.
1834 Penny Cycl. II. 420/2 In the Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera) they [sc. the flowers] are collected into round heads.
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §1022 The young shoots of the common nettle are sometimes used like spinach or greens.
1859 W. Darlington & G. Thurber Amer. Weeds & Useful Plants 289 Cnidoscolus stimulosa.., Stinging Cnidoscolus. Spurge-nettle. Tread-softly.
1890 Knowledge 1 Dec. 274/2 The common nettle occurs in two forms; the male plant which produces the pollen is quite distinct from that which bears the seeds.
1917 E. Wharton Summer vi. 82 The garden was a poisonous tangle of nettles, burdocks and tall swamp-weeds.
1955 G. Grigson Englishman's Flora 239 A variety of the Roman Nettle, U. pilulifera var. Dodartii, was grown in eighteenth-century gardens for practical joking.
1974 A. J. Huxley Plant & Planet (1978) xxv. 303 Some of the tropical nettles..are so virulent that they can produce symptoms similar to snake-bite.
1990 Health Guardian May 7/2 Urtica dioica, the common stinging nettle, has a great deal to offer in both medicinal and culinary terms.
1993 S. Carrington Wild Plants of Barbados 26/1 Laportea aestuans... Nettle... Entire plant covered in bristly, stinging hairs.
b. Any of various plants, mostly of the family Lamiaceae ( Labiatae), with leaves resembling those of the stinging nettle in shape, etc., but without stinging hairs. Usually with distinguishing word.bee-, deaf-, hedge-nettle, etc.: see the first element. See also dead-nettle n., hemp-nettle n.Recorded earliest in blind-nettle n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > labiate plant or plants > [noun] > dead-nettle or hemp-nettle
blind-nettleeOE
nettleeOE
dead-nettle1398
red archangela1425
red dead-nettlea1425
archangel1440
deaf-nettlec1440
swan's tonguec1450
dea-nettle?1530
henbit1597
nettle-hemp1597
day-nettle1635
base horehound1736
Ballota1778
weasel-snout1796
hemp-nettle1801
glidewort1866
Lamium1974
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. xxiii. 66 Gingifer, moniaca, netle, blinde netle.
OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 117 Archangelica, blinde netle.
a1200 ( Laud Plant Gloss. 26 Arcangelica, blinde netele.
1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum (de Worde) xvii. cxciii. 730 Of netles is dowble kynde, one brennyth and bytyth, and another manere hyghte the deed nettyll or the blynde nettyll.
1767 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 89/1 At the herbalizing feast of the company of apothecaries Mr. Latham recommended the Lamium Album or white nettle to the notice of his brethren.
1800 J. E. Smith Flora Britannica II. 631 Galeopsis versicolor... Large-flowered Hemp-Nettle. Bee Nettle.
1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 353 Nettle, Lamium album, L., and L. purpureum, L.–Yks. (Wensleydale).
1944 R. Matheson Entomol. for Introd. Courses xii. 245 Its secondary host plants include motherwort (Leonurus) and hedge nettle (Stachys).
1955 G. Grigson Englishman's Flora 326 Why were dead nettles, deaf nettles, dumb nettles, named archangelus in the Middle Ages, unless from the angelic quality..of not stinging?
1976 J. B. Moyle & E. W. Moyle Northland Wild Flowers 136 Common Woundwort... Also called Hedge Nettle.
c. = nettle-tree n. 2. Chiefly with distinguishing word, as giant nettle (= giant nettle-tree at nettle-tree n. 2(a)), gympie nettle (= gympie n.). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > Australasian trees > [noun] > nettle-tree or gympie
nettle-tree1827
nettle1836
gympie1895
1836 J. Backhouse Narr. Visit Austral. Colonies (1843) 363 In the forests, the Giant nettle, Urtica gigas, forms a large tree.
1837 Colonist (Sydney) 350/1 The nettle is a lofty tree, and the poplar a dwarfish shrub.
1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 192 Laportea gigas..‘Giant Nettle’. The poisonous fluid secreted from the foliage is very powerful.
1908 S. W. Jackson Field Trip Notebk. 92 in Austral. Nat. Dict. (1988) at Gympie I saw ‘the Gympies’ growing all up the mountain side today. It is a nettle that grows about 12 feet high.
a1917 W. J. Courthope Country Town (1920) 54 The gum-tree towers above; the giant nettles bloom.
1968 L. Braden Bullockies 85 Gympie Nettles, with their big prickly leaves; stings ache for hours—and sometimes days, and it is just agony every time you wash yourself in cold water.
1987 Jrnl. Biogeogr. 14 598/1 Traditional cottage industries, of weaving..and producing hard-wearing fabrics from the fibres of the giant nettle.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts.
ΚΠ
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 280 (MED) Priue pride in pes es nettille in herbere.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 164 I know welle the roote of the nettille, One dough O'dynicis, fadyr of hym that now is.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. iii. 10 Out of this nettle danger, we plucke this flower safetie. View more context for this quotation
a1693 Z. Boyd Sel. Serm. (1989) iv. 165 If the fallowe ground of the heart be not riuen vp, nothing will be seene but the burning nettles of wickednesse and pricking thornes of iniquitie.
1731–8 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. i Miss. Well; here's a Rose between two Nettles. Neverout. No, Madam;..here's a Nettle between two Roses.
1836 Gentleman's Mag. 5 221 When he did apply the rod, it was generally formed of nettles.
1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) vi. 173 Better be a nettle in the side of your friend than his echo.
1870 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 39 Those driving nettles of frost that sting the cheeks.
1963 Times 20 Feb. 12/7 It may have sounded to them as though Lord Hailsham—was transmuting the nettle of redevelopment into the flower of a kind of socialism.
1990 B. Roche Poor Beast in Rain i. i. 11 She's some nettle ain't she?
3. A sea nettle (a kind of jellyfish). Cf. red nettle n. 2. Now rare. Cf. nettlefish n. at Compounds 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Acalepha > member of (jelly-fish)
nettle1601
sea-nettle1601
blubber1602
nettlefish1611
red nettle1611
squalder1659
sea-jellya1682
urticaa1682
carvel1688
sea-qualm1694
sea-bleb1700
acaleph1706
sea-blubber1717
Medusa1752
quarla1820
acalephan1834
medusite1838
jellyfish1841
naked-eyed medusa1848
slobber1849
sea-cross1850
sea-danger1850
sun squall1853
discophore1856
medusoid1856
starch1860
Discophoran1876
jelly1882
sea-blub1885
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 444 The sea fish called a Nettle [Fr. l'ortie marine].
1774 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 63 364 These animals are not prickly, as some of the wandering nettles are.
1931 Sun (Baltimore) 12 Mar. 8/3 It is believed the nettles have migrated to the headwaters of the bay, seeking fresh water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Tortricidae > member of genus Tortrix
nettle1819
nettle-tap1819
fireworm1869
1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 385 Tortrix urticana. The barred Nettle.
Phrases
P1. in dock, out nettle: see dock n.1 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill humour > be ill-humoured [verb (intransitive)]
to have pissed on a nettle1546
mumpc1610
to sell souse1611
sullena1652
sumpha1689
frump1693
hatch1694
sunk1724
mug?c1730
purt1746
sulk1781
to get up or out of bed (on) the wrong side1801
strum1804
boody1857
sull1869
grump1875
to hump the back1889
to have (also pull, throw, etc.) a moody1969
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. x. sig. Liii v It seemd to hym, she had pyst on a nettyll.
1592 R. Greene Quip for Vpstart Courtier sig. B3 All these women that you heare brawling..and skolding thus, have seuerally pist on this bush of nettles.
1611 J. Davies Scourge of Folly 143 He hath pist on a Nettle: But would he had mist: For, a Nettle hath stung him on which he hath pist.
1682 T. Shadwell Lancashire-witches i. 8 She has piss'd upon a Nettle to day, or else the Witches have bewitched her.
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew at Nettled He has pist upon a Nettle, he is very uneasy or much out of Humor.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) (at cited word) ‘Thou's p——d of a nettle this morning,’ said of a waspish, ill-tempered person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > nervous excitement > be in state of nervous excitement [verb (intransitive)]
to take ona1450
seethe1609
trepidate1623
to take on oneself1632
flutter1668
pother1715
to be upon the nettle (also in a nettle)1723
to be nerve all over1778
to be all nerve1819
to be (all) on wires1824
to break up1825
to carry on1828
to be on (occasionally upon or on the) edge1872
faff1874
to have kittens1900
flap1910
to be in, get in(to), a flap1939
to go sparec1942
to keep (also blow, lose) one's cool1964
faffle1965
to get one's knickers in a twist1971
to have a canary1971
to wet one's pants1979
tweak1981
the mind > emotion > excitement > excitability of temperament > impatience > be impatient [verb (intransitive)]
to think longc1300
one's fingers are all thumbs1546
bate1599
to sit upon hot cockles1607
to be upon the nettle (also in a nettle)1723
to champ at (also on) the bit1832
to chafe at the bit1873
1723 Duke of Wharton True Briton No. 60. ¶11 Trebellius, you may be sure somewhat upon the Nettle, addresses himself to the Favourite.
1744 A. Hamilton Itinerarium 15 June in C. Bridenbaugh Gentleman's Progress (1992) 43 After supper they set in for drinking, to which I was averse and therefor sat upon nettles.
1792 M. Cutler Let. 23 Mar. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) I. 487 Congress..are extremely tedious in their debates..and, at the same time, all in a nettle to rise and adjourn.
P4. Scottish. (sitting) on (also †upon) nettles: on tenterhooks, fidgety, uneasy.
ΚΠ
1820 W. Scott Monastery I. viii. 225 ‘I have been upon nettles to hear what your reverence would say,’ continued Dame Glendinning, ‘respecting this matter.’
1828 D. M. Moir Life Mansie Wauch ix. 77 We were all now sitting on nettles, for we were frighted that James would be seized with a cough.
1892 R. L. Stevenson Across Plains i. 56 Some of them were on nettles till they learned your name was Dickson.
1900 Weekly Free Press & Aberdeen Herald 19 May Mrs Middleton was kept on nettles the hale nicht.
a1950 E. St. V. Millay Coll. Poems (1956) 573 Let still on nettles in the open sigh The minstrel, that in slumber is as mute As any man.
1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 305/1 Sittin on nettles, restless, ill at ease.
P5. to cast (also throw) one's frock (or cassock) to the nettles [probably after French jeter le froc aux orties (1496)] : to renounce the clerical life; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > [verb (intransitive)] > renounce clerical life
to cast (also throw) one's frock (or cassock) to the nettles1916
1916 W. J. Locke Wonderful Year xviii. 255 Now, indeed, he had burned his boats, thrown his cap over the windmills, cast his frock to the nettles.
1918 W. J. Locke Rough Road vi. 58 Young parsons..threw their cassocks to the nettles and put on the full..panoply of war.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.† nettle stinging n. Obsolete rare
nettle-bed n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun] > stem, leaf, blossom, or bed of
nettle-seed?a1425
nettle-leaf1651
nettle-beda1687
nettle stem1891
a1687 C. Cotton Poems (1689) 246 Toads now forsake the Nettle-beds.
1766 G. S. Carey Inoculator i. ii. 7 I have walk'd upon Thorns and laid upon Nettle-beds ever since I first heard of this Fortune.
1894 R. Kerr Pioneering in Morocco 205 Such commotion about a nettlebed.
1990 Naturalist 115 46 The best feeding habitats are around riparian vegetation, nettle beds, watermeadows, [etc.].
nettle bush n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > [noun] > thorn-tree
thorna700
brierc1000
thorn-bushc1330
nettle bush?c1475
thorn-tree1483
thornlet1865
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 85v (MED) A Nettyl buske: vrticetum.
a1500 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 711 Urticetum, a netylbuske.
1577 N. Breton Wks. Young Wyt 20 The ground al bare..saue here and there a Breere or Nettle bush.
a1877 Knight & Shepherd's Daughter in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1886) II. iv. 476 When they were coming by the nettlebush, She said, So well may you grow!
1961 Jrnl. Educ. Sociol. 35 162 They..slashed the nettle bushes with imaginary sabers.
nettle field n.
ΚΠ
a1844 T. Campbell Compl. Poet. Wks. (1907) 302 The speckled snake, Coil'd in yon mallows and wide nettle-fields.
1919 Chambers's Jrnl. May 298/2 In the boggy regions..people have begun to cultivate nettle-fields.
1964 G. B. Schaller Year of Gorilla vii. 153 The guard and I cut a narrow trail through the stands of lobelias and nettle fields.
nettle juice n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medical preparations of specific origin > medicine composed of a plant > [noun] > general plant-derived medicines
savineOE
liquoricec1275
verjuice1302
sandragon1334
sugar roset1363
acaciaa1398
agnus castusa1398
sebestenc1400
socotrine aloesa1425
tapsimelc1425
valencec1425
aconitum?a1450
hypericum1471
cassia1543
guaiacum1553
guaiac1558
butcher's broom1578
solanum1578
liquorice-stick1580
symphonia1597
tabasheer1598
diascord1605
orange-bead1626
oxymel of squills1654
Japonic earth1673
terebinthina1693
terebinthinate1696
pareira brava1698
rhabarbarate1716
Japan earth1718
buglossate1725
squill1725
phytolacca1730
nettle juice1747
xanthoxyloïn1767
mustard whey1769
Jesuits' drops1783
digitalis1785
arnica1788
mel-rose1790
gallic acid1791
valerian1794
sacred elixir1797
drosera1801
Spanish juice1803
mudar1819
sabadilla1821
parillin1825
mudarin1829
salicin1830
sang1843
peppermint camphor1854
pareira1855
savanilla1856
euonymin1862
menthol1862
phytolaccin1864
alstonia1868
agoniadin1870
guimauve1870
gelsemium1875
iridin1879
hazeline1880
tub-camphor1880
echinacea1887
jacaranda1887
hamamelin1890
quillain1890
vieirin1893
thiolin1894
mentha camphor1902
hamamelis1910
phytohaemagglutinin1949
adaptogen1966
1747 J. Wesley Primitive Physick v. 30 Take a Spoonful of Nettle-juice.
1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 261 The causticity of Nettle juice is owing to the presence of bicarbonate of ammonia.
1973 Amer. Hist. Rev. 78 1119/1 Valid remedies are interspersed with calls for such items as crabs' eyes..and an infusion of hog dung and nettle juice.
nettle-leaf n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun] > stem, leaf, blossom, or bed of
nettle-seed?a1425
nettle-leaf1651
nettle-beda1687
nettle stem1891
1651 N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs ⁋80 All ice beginning, maketh jagged pikes, after the fashion of a Nettle-leafe.
1677 A. Horneck Great Law Consideration (1704) ii. 18 Who would suspect such things as needles, or sharp transparent pikes in a nettleleaf?
1703 Philos. Trans. 1702–3 (Royal Soc.) 23 1365 One very pretty Grub which I found plentifully adhering to Nettle-leaves.
a1889 W. Allingham By the Way (1912) 37 A nettle-leaf, that stings the timid hand, Acquits the bold.
1989 A. Bonar Herbs (BNC) 90 The sting resulting from the touch of a nettle leaf causes a burning sensation.
nettle plant n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun]
nettleeOE
dock-nettlea1300
Greekish nettlec1450
Roman nettle1578
red nettle1611
ettle1688
urtica1706
bur-nettle1714
pill nettle1714
nettle plant1764
richweed1814
clearweed1822
sting-nettle1822
ongaonga1842
nettlewort1846
urtical1846
jinny1876
1764 Museum Rusticum 2 159 The fibres of the nettle plant.
1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 68 By distilling the nettle plant with sulphuric acid formic acid is obtained.
1957 Jrnl. Ecol. 45 153 The larger amount of the organic manures produced 77½ per cent more nettle plants per unit area.
nettle root n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medical preparations of specific origin > medicine composed of a plant > [noun] > plant used in medicine > root > specific roots
zedoaryOE
madderOE
setwall?c1225
liquoricec1275
rhubarba1400
ireosc1400
liquorice-racec1400
sage root14..
maple root1523
liquorice-root1530
rhabarbarum1533
orris1545
turmeric1545
cypressc1550
pyrethrum1562
china1582
China root1588
orris root1598
red squill1629
ginseng1654
ague root1676
poke root1687
cassumunar1693
nettle root1707
valerian root1747
belly-ache-root1775
Indian root1775
Turkey rhubarb1789
sumbul1791
serpentaria1803
Honduras sarsaparilla1818
serpentary1837
sang1843
savanilla1856
manaca1866
gelsemium1875
sanguinaria1875
Indian turmeric1890
1707 J. Yonge Let. 9 Mar. in Philos. Trans. 1708–09 (Royal Soc.) (1709) 26 421 By the persuasion of a skilful Woman, he drank the Powder of Nettle-roots in White Wine.
?1750 J. Wesley Primitive Physick (ed. 2) 33 Chew Nettle Root.
1990 P. Lively Passing On (BNC) 120 Ron's glance had fallen upon the huge mound of nettle roots and bramble stems that was the product of Edward's afternoon.
nettle-seed n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun] > stem, leaf, blossom, or bed of
nettle-seed?a1425
nettle-leaf1651
nettle-beda1687
nettle stem1891
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 162 Sympel medicines..valeriane, Cole Sede, dille sede, nettel sede.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 355 Nettyl seede, Gnydisperma.
?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 786/14 Anagalidos, netyllesede.
1643 J. Steer tr. Fabricius Exper. Chyrurg. iii. 7 A sharpe and pricking pain, like as though the skin were rubbed with Nettle-seed.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch III. lvi. 233 Nettle-seed needs no digging.
1967 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 36 723 Nettle-seeds..were the preferred and most abundant food.
nettle stalk n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from other vegetable fibres > [noun] > made from nettles
nettle-cloth1539
Scotch cloth1631
nettle stalk1684
1580 T. Churchyard Pleasaunte Laborinth: Churchyardes Chance 12 Are Nettle stalks, like roddie Roses leaues.
1684 J. Ray in J. Ray et al. Philos. Lett. (1718) 175 I wish I had Assurance..that those Sorts of Linen..are made of Nettle-Stalks.
1766 Museum Rusticum 6 429 Making cloth of Hop Binds and Nettle Stalks.
1880 Good Words 21 150 I used to make trumpets of..elder sticks, eltrot stems, and even stinging nettle stalks.
1974 P. J. Kavanagh Edward Thomas in Heaven in Coll. Poems (1992) Along the path a smell of youthful winters Comes up suddenly from mud and nettlestalks.
nettle stem n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun] > stem, leaf, blossom, or bed of
nettle-seed?a1425
nettle-leaf1651
nettle-beda1687
nettle stem1891
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles liv, in Graphic 19 Dec. 726/1 The pale and blasted nettle-stems of the preceding year.
1918 Fibre & Fabric 4 May 8/4 Some parts of the nettle stem will split into fibres one twelve hundredth of an inch in diameter.
2006 M. Rowlands Body Lang. x. 196 The mother always makes a sweeping movement of one hand, held around a nettle stem that is sometimes held in the other hand.
nettle sting n. (also figurative)
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [noun] > smarting or stinging > caused by plant
nettling1440
nettle stinging1666
pungency1792
nettle stinga1820
urtication1859
sting1878
a1820 J. R. Drake Trifles in Rhyme in Life & Wks. J. R. Drake (1935) 148 Tossed on the pricks of nettle stings.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. II. 576 Florid, itching, nettle-sting wheals.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 30 Sept. 4/1 The dock-leaf..is useful as a remedy for nettle-sting.
1929 D. H. Lawrence Let. 18 Apr. (1962) II. 1142 Even beauty has its thorns and its nettle-stings and its poppy-poison.
1991 R. J. Pankhurst & J. M. Mullin Flora of Outer Hebrides (BNC) 56 Many a small child knows that to alleviate the pain and irritation of a nettle sting he need only reach for the nearest broad-leaved docken.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [noun] > smarting or stinging > caused by plant
nettling1440
nettle stinging1666
pungency1792
nettle stinga1820
urtication1859
sting1878
1666 W. Boghurst Loimographia (1894) 93 Little red superficiall pimples in clusters like nettle stinging.
nettle top n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > leaf vegetables > [noun] > other leaves
nettle top?1585
lettuce1597
green food1658
peppergrass1696
Welsh onion1731
lamb's quarter1773
Shawnee salad1780
puha1843
poke greens1848
rauriki1848
swede greens1887
swede tops1887
lettuce green1900
leafy greena1918
rapini1959
?1585 W. C. Aduentures Ladie Egeria sig. G2v In the nettle top seemed a most bitter sower crab to grow.
1699 J. Evelyn Acetaria 19 The tender winders, with young nettle-tops, are us'd in Lenten pottages.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 693/2 Nettle-tops in the spring are often boiled and eaten by the common people.
1837 B. D. Walsh tr. Aristophanes Knights i. iii, in Comedies 174 Like those who're fond of nettle-tops.
1991 Country Living (BNC) June 82 The caterpillars..live inside a silk canopy, which they spin around themselves when feeding on the nettle tops.
b. With the sense ‘made with nettles’.† nettle broth n. Obsolete† nettle-pottage n. Obsolete
nettle beer n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > beer > [noun] > other kinds of beer
spruce beerc1500
March beer1535
Lubecks beer1608
zythum1608
household beer1616
bottle1622
mumc1623
old beer1626
six1631
four1633
maize beer1663
mum beer1667
vinegar beer1677
wrest-beer1689
nog1693
October1705
October beer1707
ship-beer1707
butt beer1730
starting beer1735
butt1743
peterman1767
seamen's beer1795
chang1800
treacle beer1806
stock beer1826
Iceland beer1828
East India pale ale1835
India pale ale1837
faro1847
she-oak1848
Bass1849
bitter beer1850
bock1856
treble X1856
Burton1861
nettle beer1864
honey beer1867
pivo1873
Lambic1889
steam beer1898
barley-beer1901
gueuze1926
Kriek1936
best1938
rough1946
keg1949
IPA1953
busaa1967
mbege1972
microbrew1985
microbeer1986
yeast-beer-
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > non-malted brews > [noun] > others
kvassa1556
locus ale1693
honey beer1731
maple beer1788
heath-ale1801
treacle beer1806
root beer1815
treacle alea1833
gale-beer1863
nettle beer1864
shimiyana1870
birch beer1883
parsnip beer1897
skokiaan1926
1864 Chambers's Encycl. VI. 726/1 The stalks and leaves of nettles are employed..for the manufacture of a light kind of beer, called Nettle beer.
1910 A. Bennett Clayhanger i. xii. 103 I won't have them apprentices drinking!.. Mrs. Nixon'll give 'em some nettle-beer if they fancy it.
1989 A. Bonar Herbs (BNC) 90 Uses [of nettle]... Young fresh leaves and stews, as spinach alternative, added to casseroles, to make cheese, and nettle beer.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > soup or pottage > [noun] > vegetable soup
joutes1377
leek-pottagec1440
kalea1480
colea1500
nettle broth1652
spring pottage1661
minestra1673
spring soup1744
onion soup1747
shchi1824
Palestine soup1834
potato soup1834
tomato soup1840
julienne1841
gazpacho1845
printanier1867
minestrone1871
vichyssoise1939
pistou1979
1652 Mercurius Democritus No. 5. 36 He is to abstaine from all high meats that might provoke the appetite, and to take for three mornings next his heart certain Drams of Cream of Tartar in some Nettle-broath.
1833 H. Martineau French Wines & Politics viii I thought our poor helped out their subsistence by nettle broth and frog stew.
nettle-porridge n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > soup or pottage > porridges > [noun]
polentaOE
papelotec1400
pottagea1500
crowdy-mowdy?a1513
drowsen1519
pease porridge?1548
plum pottage1574
sowens1582
grout1587
orgementa1590
plum porridge1591
loblolly1597
pease pottage1600
girt-brew1620
washbrew1620
lentil-porridge1622
hominy1630
porridgea1643
samp1643
nettle-pottage1659
nettle-porridge1661
crowdie1668
suppawn1670
mush1671
rockahominy1674
stirabouta1691
praiseach1698
sagamité1698
brochan1700
atole1716
burgoo1750
purry1751
fungee1789
pepper porridge1803
kasha1808
mamaliga1808
skilligalee1819
bean-porridge1821
skilly1839
sap porridge1842
corn-mush1846
oatmeal mush1850
pap1858
ugali1860
oatmeal1873
mealie-meal1880
mealie-pap1880
uji1889
sadza1899
nsima1907
putu papa1910
posho1927
putu1949
ogi1957
whey-porridge-
1661 S. Pepys Diary 25 Feb. (1970) II. 43 There we did eat some nettle-porrige.
1698 T. Dilke Pretenders ii. 12 She shall clarify Whey, make Nettle Porridge, and Barley-broth, with ever a Girl in the Kingdom.
1831 ‘A Shivvild Chap’ Sheffield Dial. ii. 21 Nettle porridge an brawis.
1930 C. Archer & J. S. Scott tr. S. Undset Kristin Lavransdatter i. i. 311 When kristin waked from her long swoon, she was lying in her bed... They had laid small bags of hot nettle-porridge upon her.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > soup or pottage > porridges > [noun]
polentaOE
papelotec1400
pottagea1500
crowdy-mowdy?a1513
drowsen1519
pease porridge?1548
plum pottage1574
sowens1582
grout1587
orgementa1590
plum porridge1591
loblolly1597
pease pottage1600
girt-brew1620
washbrew1620
lentil-porridge1622
hominy1630
porridgea1643
samp1643
nettle-pottage1659
nettle-porridge1661
crowdie1668
suppawn1670
mush1671
rockahominy1674
stirabouta1691
praiseach1698
sagamité1698
brochan1700
atole1716
burgoo1750
purry1751
fungee1789
pepper porridge1803
kasha1808
mamaliga1808
skilligalee1819
bean-porridge1821
skilly1839
sap porridge1842
corn-mush1846
oatmeal mush1850
pap1858
ugali1860
oatmeal1873
mealie-meal1880
mealie-pap1880
uji1889
sadza1899
nsima1907
putu papa1910
posho1927
putu1949
ogi1957
whey-porridge-
1659 Lady Alimony i. ii His hate to Woman made Eupolis eat Nettle pottage.
1776 T. Percival Ess. Med. & Exper. (1776) III. 258 The children breakfasted of nettle-pottage, that is, oatmeal gruel with fresh nettles boiled in it.
nettle soup n.
ΚΠ
1803 in Catal. Prints: Polit. & Personal Satires (Brit. Mus.) (1947) VIII. 232 Bill of Fare Nettle Soup Sour Crout.
1969 J. McPhee in New Yorker 6 Dec. 96/2 The McNeills also collect watercress from the streams, they make nettle soup, and they eat sea kale.
1991 R. J. Pankhurst & J. M. Mullin Flora of Outer Hebrides (BNC) 56 Nettle tea..and nettle soup, were also very common.
nettle tea n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines of specific form > decoction or infusion > [noun] > specific decoction or infusion
sabras?c1225
tisanea1398
tamarisk1597
wort1694
sage tea?1706
poppy tea1709
yapon tea1723
herb-tea1744
spring juices1751
balm-tea1752
camomile-tea1753
uva ursi1753
nettle tea1758
bush tea1768
quassia1778
majo bitters1866
Mexican tea1866
1758 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) XII. 203 Nettle-tea..would do you more good than any other.
1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 62/2 ‘Nettle-tea’ is a popular remedy for many diseases.
1990 S. Lawhead Tale of Anabelle Hedgehog (BNC) 31 We can discuss it over tea. I make a very nice nettle tea, you know.
c. † nettle-rough adj. Obsolete† nettle-stung adj. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective]
untheweda1325
unbenec1400
incondite1539
undight1555
ungentle1565
impolished1583
transalpinea1592
impolited1598
uncourtly1598
tartarous1602
impolite1612
unelevated1627
unfashioned1630
unbrushed1640
unhewed1644
hirsute1658
unhewn1659
inelegant1667
sordid1668
ingenteel1694
barbarous1700
ungracefula1732
tramontane1740
uninformed1754
clumsy1758
heavy1817
uncharmed1818
nettle-rough1850
blowzy1851
mal élevé1878
inexquisite1922
pseudo-sophisticated1925
1850 E. B. Browning Poems (new ed.) I. 337 The thought I called a flower, grew nettle-rough.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [adjective] > smarting or stinging > of plant > suffering
nettled1671
nettle-stung1891
1891 C. T. C. James Romantic Rigmarole 102 The leaf of the common dock I have found efficacious, if applied..to nettle-stung legs.
d. † nettle-sting v. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > injure [verb (transitive)] > wound > sting or bite > sting or beat with nettle
nettlea1425
nettle-sting1598
nettlefy1602
benettle1611
1598 E. Guilpin Skialetheia sig. C5v I applaud my selfe, For nettle-stinging thus this fayery elfe.
C2.
a. In the sense ‘relating to, resembling, associated with, or made from the nettle’ (sense 1a).† nettle-blight n. Obsolete a rust fungus infecting nettles, Aecidium urticae, the aecial stage of Puccinia caricina.† nettle-docken n. Obsolete rare a dock used to relieve nettle stings, esp. Rumex obtusifolius.† nettle-kale n. Obsolete Scottish broth or soup made with nettles.† nettle-tom n. British regional Obsolete the whitethroat, Sylvia communis.
nettle-bird n. English regional the whitethroat, Sylvia communis.
ΚΠ
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 415 Nettle-bird, the white-throat.
1857 Naturalist 7 92 I presume that the Whitethroat or Nettle-Creeper is the species intended by the Nettle-Bird.
1885 C. Swainson Provincial Names & Folklore Brit. Birds 23 From its habit of creeping through the lower parts of hedges where nettles are abundant, it [sc. the whitethroat] has received the names of Nettle-creeper: Nettle monger... Nettle bird (Leicestershire).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > parasitic plants > [noun] > other
beech-drops1815
rafflesia1822
Scotchman hugging the (also a) Creole1828
Brugmansia1832
John Crow nose1844
pinedrops1848
nettle-blight1849
Scotch attorney1864
Jim Crow's nose1866
witchweed1881
devil's guts1889
1849 J. Lindley Med. & Œcon. Bot. 13 Æc. Urticæ De Candolle.—(Nettle blight.) Spore-cases form oblong orange heaps on the under side of the leaves, each being nearly round, and finally gaping wide.
1855 J. Ogilvie Suppl. Imperial Dict. Nettle-blight, the Æcidium urticæ, a parasitic plant common on nettles.
1863 T. Fox Skin Dis. Parasitic Origin v. 51 The æcidium (berberry blight, nettle blight, peartree blight).
nettle butterfly n. now rare the small tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae, whose larvae feed on nettles.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Rhopalocera (butterflies) > [noun] > family Nymphalidae > subfamily Ithomiinae > genus Vanessa > vanessa urticae (nettle-butterfly)
nettle butterfly1803
1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. III. 300 The Nettle Tortoise-shell Butterfly.
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxix. 101 The eggs of..the nettle butterfly..when laid in summer are hatched in a few days.
1902 R. W. Chambers Maids of Paradise xiii. 222 The scarlet-banded nettle-butterflies flitted and hovered.
1919 Encycl. Americana XX. 97/1 Nettle-butterfly, a European butterfly (Vanessa urticæ), which feeds and lays its eggs on nettles.
1937 National Nature News 27 Sept. 5/1 Take the nettle butterfly and the nettle plant. The two are well-known throughout most of the northern hemisphere.
nettle cheese n. a cheese flavoured and mottled by an infusion of nettle leaves.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dairy produce > cheese > [noun] > varieties of cheese
goat cheeseOE
green cheesec1390
rowen cheesea1425
bred-cheesec1440
hard cheesec1470
ruen cheese1510
parmesan1538
spermyse1542
angelot1573
cow-cheese1583
goat's cheese1588
Cheshire Cheese1597
eddish-cheese1615
nettle cheese1615
aftermath cheese1631
marsolini1636
Suffolk cheese1636
Cheddar cheesea1661
rowen1673
parmigianoa1684
raw-milk cheesea1687
fleet cheese1688
sage-cheese1714
Rhode Island cheese1733
Stilton cheese1736
Roquefort cheese1762
American cheese1763
fodder cheese1784
Old Peg1785
blue cheese1787
Dunlop cheese1793
Wiltshire1794
Gloucester1802
Gruyère1802
Neufchâtel1814
Limburger cheese1817
Dunlop1818
fog cheese1822
Swiss cheese1822
Suffolk thumpa1825
Stilton1826
skim dick1827
stracchino cheese1832
Blue Vinney1836
Edam1836
Schabzieger1837
sapsago1846
Munster1858
mysost1861
napkin cheese1865
provolone1865
Roquefort1867
Suffolk bang1867
Leicester1874
Brie1876
Camembert1878
Gorgonzola1878
Leicester cheese1880
Port Salut1881
Wensleydale1881
Gouda1885
primost1889
Cantal1890
Suisse1891
bondon1894
Petit Suisse1895
Gervais1896
Lancashire1896
Pont l'Évêque1896
reggiano1896
Romano1897
fontina1898
Caerphilly cheese1901
Derby cheese1902
Emmental1902
Liptauer1902
farmer cheese1904
robiola1907
gjetost1908
reblochon1908
scamorza1908
Cabrales1910
Jack1910
pimento cheese1910
mozzarella1911
pimiento cheese1911
Monterey cheese1912
processed cheese1918
Tillamook1918
tvorog1918
anari1919
process cheese1923
Bel Paese1926
pecorino1931
Oka1936
Parmigiano–Reggiano1936
vacherin1936
Monterey Jack1940
Red Leicester1940
demi-sel1946
tomme1946
Danish blue1948
Tilsit1950
St.-Maure1951
Samsoe1953
Havarti1954
paneer1954
taleggio1954
feta1956
St. Paulin1956
bleu cheese1957
Manchego1957
Ilchester1963
Dolcelatte1964
chèvre1965
Chaource1966
Windsor Red1969
halloumi1970
Montrachet1973
Chaumes1976
Lymeswold1981
cambozola1984
yarg1984
1615 G. Markham Eng. Hus-wife in Countrey Contentments ii. iv. 118 A very dainty nettle Cheese, which is the finest summer Cheese which can be eaten... You shall lay..[the curd] vpon fresh nettles and couer it all ouer with the same.
1694 N. H. Ladies Dict. 155/1 Cheese, of which there are two kinds, Morning-Milk-Cheese, Nettle Cheese.
1995 Holiday Which? Sept. 190/2 Northumbrian nettle cheese and other local specialities.
nettle creeper n. †(a) the goldcrest, Regulus regulus (obsolete); (b) British regional any of several warblers of the genus Sylvia which nest among nettles beneath hedges; esp. the whitethroat, S. communis, the blackcap, S. atricapilla, or the garden warbler, S. borin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Regulus > regulus regulus (goldcrest)
yellowbird1625
regulus1750
basilisk1753
marigold bird1772
nettle creeper1772
goldcrest1819
marigold finch1828
kinglet1835
woodcock pilot1871
thumb bird1885
tot-o'er-seas1885
herring spink1906
pope's eye1965
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Sylvia > sylvia communis (whitethroat)
whey-beard1614
glut1661
muff1661
whitethroat1673
nettle-monger1712
whitethroat warbler1817
whey-bird1825
muggy1829
nettle-tom1830
muffit1837
mufty1837
nettle creeper1845
feather-bed1854
jackstraw1879
feather-bird1885
mealy-mouth1885
miller1885
muffya1886
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Sylvia > sylvia hortensis (beccafico)
fig-bird1576
snap-fig1603
beccafico1621
fig-pecker1647
fig-finch1655
pettichaps1673
fig-eater1678
nettle-monger1712
garden warbler1817
nettle creeper1984
1772 J. Rutty Ess. Nat. Hist. Dublin I. 313 Nettle creeper or Marigold Bird, from the fine crown on its head, of the colour of a Marigold flower.
1817 T. Forster Synoptical Catal. Brit. Birds 16 Sylvia atricapilla, Blackcap, Haychat, Nettle Creeper, or Nettle Monger.
1845 Encycl. Metrop. XXV. 364/2 The White Throat..is seen..among weeds and nettles, whence one of its provincial names is the Nettle Creeper.
1889 R. Jefferies Field & Hedgerow 252 Country boys set some value on the eggs of the nettle-creeper or whitethroat because the nest is difficult to find, and the eggs curiously marked.
1950 A. W. Boyd Coward's Birds Brit. Isles (rev. ed.) 1st Ser. 203 From its skill in traversing dense herbage, it [sc. the common Whitethroat] is known as the ‘Nettle creeper’.
1984 W. B. Lockwood Oxf. Bk. Brit. Bird Names 107/1 Nettle Creeper, a widespread local term for the Whitethroats, sometimes for the Blackcap or the garden Warbler, species which commonly nest among coarse vegetation, such as nettles. An alternative, rather humorous name is Nettle Monger.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > analgesic > [noun] > plant to relieve nettle-sting
nettle-docken1891
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Polygonaceae (dock and allies) > [noun] > dock and allies
red dockeOE
dockc1000
rhubarbc1390
docken1423
patience?a1425
round dock1526
Rumex1565
wild patience1578
bloody dock1597
monk's rhubarb1597
Welsh sorrel1640
butterdock1688
mountain rhapontic1728
mountain sorrel1753
Rheum1753
redshank1810
patience dock1816
fiddle-dock1823
canaigre1868
nettle-docken1891
1891 M. M. Dowie Girl in Karpathians 234 The common nettle-docken, the stuff that no creature will eat.
nettle geranium n. a plant, Solenosternon scutellarioides ( Coleus blumei) of the family Lamiaceae ( Labiatae), perhaps of Malaysian origin, which is often grown as a house plant for its beautifully variegated leaves; also called flame nettle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > labiate plant or plants > [noun] > other labiate plants
dictamnusOE
MarrubiumOE
dittany1552
water horehound1578
bush basil1597
gypsy herb1726
Perilla1783
gypsywort1787
Malabar catmint1813
chia1832
nettle geranium1860
gas plant1863
coleus1885
1860 G. W. S. Piesse Lab. Chem. Wonders 67 Two very luxuriant nettle-geraniums.
1869 E. Capell Songs by Way 69 (title) To a Nettle Geranium.
1970 D. Bartrum Exotic Plants for Home iv. 59 Coleus belong to the Nettle Family and are commonly called Flame Nettle or Nettle Geranium. (The leaves are nettle-shaped and toothed).
nettle-hemp n. = hemp-nettle n.
ΚΠ
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 573 In English wilde hempe, Nettle hempe, bastard hempe.
1744 J. Wilson Synopsis Brit. Plants 95 Lamium cannabino folio vulgare... Nettle Hemp, or rather Hemp-leav'd dead Nettle.
1777 J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica I. 310 [Galeopsis tetrahit] Nettle-hemp, or Hemp-leav'd dead Nettle. Anglis.
1879 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) Mar. 186 Women prepare the fibres of the nettle-hemp and grass-cloth plant for the loom by rubbing them on tiles.
1948 Harvard Jrnl. Asiatic Stud. 11 69 In our text, the commentary on ho states that they are ‘garments of pien-hsi, i.e., plaited nettle-hemp’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > soup or pottage > [noun] > other soups
breec1000
mortressc1387
cretone?a1400
mortrelc1400
primrosea1450
water-kale?a1500
white broth?1537
plum broth1614
mutton broth1615
veal brotha1625
nettle-kale?c1625
China-broth1628
bisque1647
beer-broth1648
dilligrout1662
nativity broth1674
sowdyc1700
mandarin broth1701
white soup1708
soup-vermicell1724
soup-meagre1733
burgoo1743
sago-gruel1743
soup maigre1754
vermicelli soup1769
vermicelli1771
noodle soup1779
mock turtle soup1783
pepper-water1783
mulligatawny1784
powsowdie1787
macaroni soup1789
bird's nest soup1806
smiggins1825
garbure1829
pish-pash1834
laksa1846
sancocho1851
ajiaco1856
pepper soup1860
liquorice-soup1864
mock turtle1876
borsch1884
petite marmite1890
whey-brose1894
rassolnik1899
lokshen soup1900
menudo1904
hoosh1905
sinigang1912
waterzooi1915
Cullen Skink1916
swallow's nest soup1920
mizutaki1933
rasam1933
pasta fazool1935
pho1935
pasta fagioli1951
stracciatella1954
solyanka1958
tom yam1960
mannish water1968
pasta e fagioli1968
ribollita1968
tom yam kung1969
?c1625 in E. Beveridge & J. D. Westwood Fergusson's Sc. Prov. (1924) No. 1549 Ye breid of netl caill ye wold fain hav meekl service.
1837 H. Miller in Wilson's Hist. Tales Borders (1857) I. 83 But losh! sic a prescription! a day's fasting an twa ladles o' nettle kail.
1899 Shetland News 15 Apr. Scottish folks have never taken kindly to nettle kale.
nettle-leaved adj. having ovate, coarsely-toothed leaves like a nettle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > plant defined by leaves > [adjective] > having stinging or balm-yielding leaves
nettle-leaved1731
balm-leaved1861
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Verbena Canada Nettle-leav'd Vervain.
1771 J. R. Forster Catal. Plants N. Amer. in tr. J. B. Bossu Trav. Louisiana II. 18 Salvia Urticifolia. Sage, nettle-leav'd.
1828 J. E. Smith Eng. Flora (ed. 2) II. 11 Nettle-leaved Goosefoot.
1847 W. Darlington Agric. Bot. 111 Nettle-leaved Verbena. Common Vervain.
1931 K. M. Smith Textbk. Agric. Entomol. xiii. 224 The following weeds also serve as hosts for the larvae..: henbane(Hyoscyamus niger),..white goosefoot (Chenopodium album), nettle-leaved goosefoot (Chenopodium murale), [etc.].
nettle-leaved bellflower n. a Eurasian bellflower, Campanula trachelium, occurring in woodland, esp. on chalky or clayey soils.
ΚΠ
1736 Compl. Family-piece ii. iii. 300 Peach leav'd and Nettle leav'd Bell-flowers.
1789 J. Pilkington View Derbyshire I. viii. 351 Nettle-leaved Bellflower, Great Throatwort, or Canterbury Bells.
1960 S. Ary & M. Gregory Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 166/1 Nettle-leaved Bellflower or bats-in-the-belfry (C[ampanula] trachelium).
1992 Wildlife News (Berks., Bucks & Oxon Naturalists' Trust) May 11/1 St Mary the Virgin church at Kidlington has a total of 171 species, including the shining crane's-bill and nettle-leaved bellflower.
nettle-monger n. †(a) the reed bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus (obsolete); (b) British regional = nettle creeper n. (b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Sylvia > sylvia communis (whitethroat)
whey-beard1614
glut1661
muff1661
whitethroat1673
nettle-monger1712
whitethroat warbler1817
whey-bird1825
muggy1829
nettle-tom1830
muffit1837
mufty1837
nettle creeper1845
feather-bed1854
jackstraw1879
feather-bird1885
mealy-mouth1885
miller1885
muffya1886
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Sylvia > sylvia atricapilla (blackcap)
fig-bird1576
snap-fig1603
beccafico1621
fig-pecker1647
fig-finch1655
black cap1678
fig-eater1678
nettle-monger1712
mockingbird1883
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Sylvia > sylvia hortensis (beccafico)
fig-bird1576
snap-fig1603
beccafico1621
fig-pecker1647
fig-finch1655
pettichaps1673
fig-eater1678
nettle-monger1712
garden warbler1817
nettle creeper1984
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Emberizidae > subfamily Emberizinae (bunting) > genus Emberiza > emberiza schoeniclus (reed-bunting)
reed-sparrowa1500
junco1706
nettle-monger1712
night warbler1739
willow-nightingale1774
reed bunting1776
ring bird1837
ring fowl1840
toad-snatcher1848
1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. 428 The Reed Sparrow..is found upon Willows and Bushes by our Brook-sides, as also upon Bunches of Nettles; and is therefore called the Nettlemonger by some.
1831 J. Rennie Montagu's Ornithol. Dict. (ed. 2) 42 The provincial names of Mock-nightingale, Nettle-creeper, Nettle-monger.
1984 W. B. Lockwood Oxf. Bk. Brit. Bird Names 107/1 Nettle creeper, A widespread local term for the Whitethroats, sometimes for the Blackcap or the Garden Warbler... An alternative, rather humorous name is Nettle Monger.
nettle-tap n. any of several moths which frequent nettles.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Tortricidae > member of genus Tortrix
nettle1819
nettle-tap1819
fireworm1869
1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 364 Tortrix lutosa. The early Nettle-tap.
1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 442 Tortrix Oxyacanthæ. The Autumn Nettle-tap.
1845 Encycl. Metrop. XXIV. 597/1 Flitting with a very peculiar flight over the tops of nettles, and thence termed Nettle-taps.
1878 C. W. Dale Hist. Glanville's Wotton 193 S. Fabriciana Linn. Common Nettle-tap. Abundant amongst nettles, June to October.
1905 J. E. Robson Catal. Lepidoptera Northumberland, Durham & Newcastle-upon-Tyne II. i. 19 Simaethis fabriciana Linn. Nettle-tap.
1992 Entomol. Rec. & Jrnl. of Variation 104 275 On returning to the cliff-top plateau we examined Ragwort plants, in neighbouring fields,..but no Nettle-tap species were found.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Sylvia > sylvia communis (whitethroat)
whey-beard1614
glut1661
muff1661
whitethroat1673
nettle-monger1712
whitethroat warbler1817
whey-bird1825
muggy1829
nettle-tom1830
muffit1837
mufty1837
nettle creeper1845
feather-bed1854
jackstraw1879
feather-bird1885
mealy-mouth1885
miller1885
muffya1886
1830 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Weekly Polit. Reg. 17 Apr. 494 The sweet and soft voice of the white-throat, or nettle-tom.
nettleweed n. U.S. a plant (not clearly identified) of the nettle family.
ΚΠ
1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase I. xix. 159 They gathered a peculiar species of nettle, (called there nettleweed,) which they succeeded in dressing like flax.
1867 ‘T. Lackland’ Homespun i. 18 Their blackened skeletons..overgrown with nettleweeds and long grasses.
1993 J. S. Green Auction Block in Afr. Amer. Rev. 27 132 Third Wednesdays full moons Aunt Sue gathered nettleweed.
nettlewort n. now rare †(a) a kind of fern; = maidenhair n. 1 (obsolete); (b) any of various nettle-like plants constituting the genus Acalypha (family Euphorbiaceae); (c) (J. Lindley's name for) a plant of the family Urticaceae, the nettle family.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Euphorbiaceae (spurges and allies) > [noun]
catapucec1386
Euphorbiaa1398
spurgea1400
tithymala1400
faitour's grassc1440
cat's-grassc1450
nettlewort1523
essell1527
lint-spurge1548
sea wartwort1548
spurge thyme1548
line-spurge1562
myrtle spurge1562
sun spurge1562
wolf's-milk1575
cypress tithymal1578
devil's milk1578
mercury1578
sea-spurge1597
sun tithymal1597
welcome to our house1597
wood-spurge1597
Euphorbium1606
milk-reed1611
milkwort1640
sun-turning spurge1640
spurge-wort1647
caper-bush1673
Portland spurge1715
milkweed1736
Medusa's head1760
little-good1808
welcome-home-husband1828
three-seeded mercury1846
cat's-milk1861
turnsole1863–79
mole-tree1864
snow-on-the-mountain1873
seven sisters1879
caper-plant1882
asthma herb1887
mountain snow1889
crown of thorns1890
olifants melkbos1898
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Urticaceae (nettle and allies) > [noun]
nettleeOE
dock-nettlea1300
Greekish nettlec1450
Roman nettle1578
red nettle1611
ettle1688
urtica1706
bur-nettle1714
pill nettle1714
nettle plant1764
richweed1814
clearweed1822
sting-nettle1822
ongaonga1842
nettlewort1846
urtical1846
jinny1876
1523 in T. Hunt Plant Names Medieval Eng. (1989) 9 [Adiantos] þe more maydenhere or netilwort.
1834 Miller's Dict. Gardening 46 Acalypha.., Nettle Wort.
1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 261 Nettleworts will then be easily known from Morads and Hempworts, which have a hooked embryo.
1897 Science 6 400/1 A somewhat later appearance of aphanisis gave rise to..the spurgeworts and nettleworts from the mallow type.
1921 M. Pedler Splendid Folly xii. 139 ‘Perhaps there's a stinging-nettle or two labelled with your name,’ she answered lightly. ‘The Nettlewort Erringtonia,’ she added, smiling.
1980 A. D. J. Flowerdew in M. Bulmer Social Res. & Royal Comm. vii. 89 The threatened extinction of the last remaining habitat of the broad-leaved nettle-wort in North Hertfordshire.
nettle yarn n. [after German Nesselgarn (1870 in the passage translated in quot. 1885; 1563 in early modern German)] the prepared fibre of nettles.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > made from other materials
vegetable wool1752
pine-wool1854
nettle yarn1879
1879 Cultiv. of Nettle in Germany in Rep. Comm. of Agric. 1878 (U.S. Dept. of Agric.) 564 Nettle yarn which I have spun is stronger, softer, and more glossy than that of hemp, although prepared with a common hackle.
1885 J. S. Stallybrass tr. V. Hehn Wanderings Plants & Animals 469 The Germans also made nets of nettle-yarn.
1920 W. E. Brenchley Weeds of Farm Land xii. 203 In Denmark the nettle yarn has been worked up with wool, with satisfactory results.
1969 Arctic Anthropol. 5 22/1 They sew even their footwear with this relatively undurable nettle yarn. The Amur-Tungus, on the other hand, do not use nettle yarn, but sinew thread.
2016 S. Tolley tr. K. Altmann Fabric of Life 236/1 Nowadays [in Bhutan], nettle yarn is generally boiled in water containing wood ash and is beaten against a stone slab.
b. In the sense ‘behaving, or producing an effect like, a nettle (sense 1a); armed with or bearing a sting or stings’. Also occasionally in sense ‘resembling nettle-rash’.† nettle battery n. Zoology Obsolete = nematocyst n.† nettle-bulb n. Zoology Obsolete an organ bearing cnidoblasts in certain jellyfishes.† nettle-lichen n. Pathology Obsolete a form of lichen (lichen n. 3a) in which the spots resemble those of nettle-rash.† nettle-whip n. Zoology Obsolete an organ bearing gastric filaments in certain jellyfishes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Hydrozoa > member of > stinging organ
nettle battery1888
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 770 Cnidoblasts, from which new ‘nettle batteries’ are derived in growth.
1902 Amer. Naturalist 36 581 Another hydra was irritated with a blunt needle in order to induce it to discharge the nettle batteries.
1911 H. Wettstein Teleo-mech. of Nature xiv. 57 The Siphonophore..consists of a stem, being an elongated hollow polyp, an air-bladder, locomotors or propellers, feeders or nutritive polyps, intestines, liver-glands, mouth, throat, nettle-battery, male and female polyps, etc.
ΚΠ
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 783 Some Rhizostome genera also possess ‘nettle-bulbs’, stalked processes with or without a terminal opening.
nettle cell n. Zoology = cnidoblast n. at cnida n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > substance > cell > types of cells > [noun] > other types of cells
reticular cell1832
torula1833
reserve cell1842
subcell1844
parenchyma cell1857
pedicel cell1858
nettle cell1870
heterocyst1872
prickle cell1872
angioblast1875
palisade cell1875
sextant1875
spindle cell1876
neuroblast1878
body cell1879
plasma cell1882
reticulum cell1882
stem cell1885
Langhans1886
basal cell1889
pole cell1890
myelocyte1891
statocyst1892
mast cell1893
thrombocyte1893
iridocyte1894
precursor1895
nurse cell1896
amacrine1900
statocyte1900
mononuclear1903
oat cell1903
myeloblast1904
trochoblast1904
adipocyte1906
polynuclear1906
fibrocyte1911
akaryote1920
Rouget cell1922
Sternberg–Reed1922
amphicyte1925
monoblast1925
pericyte1925
promyelocyte1925
pituicyte1930
agamete1932
sympathogonia1934
athrocyte1938
progenitor1938
Reed–Sternberg cell1939
submarginal1941
delta cell1942
mastocyte1947
squame1949
podocyte1954
transformed cell1956
transformant1957
spheroplast1958
pinealocyte1961
immunocyte1963
lactotroph1966
mammotroph1966
minicell1967
proheterocyst1970
myofibroblast1971
cybrid1974
1870 H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. 109 The ‘nettle cells’ or ‘cnidæ’ of the Cœlenterata.
1951 J. Steinbeck & E. F. Ricketts Log from ‘Sea of Cortez’ xviii. 189 [The sea-anemones] extend their beautiful tentacles and with their nettle-cells capture and eat many micro-organisms.
1991 S. Gibson & R. Gibson Homoeopathy for Everyone (new ed.) iv. 57 The most brightly coloured parts of the sea slug..are the papillae—hair-like structures which grow from their backs and which have arranged on their surfaces groups of stinging cells known as nettle-cells or nematocysts.
nettle fever n. now rare urticaria; nettle-rash.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > eruptive diseases > [noun] > nettle-rash or urticaria
essera1706
nettle-rash1740
urticaria1771
nettle fever1781
blab1861
Quincke's disease1894
1781 R. Pulteney Gen. View Writings Linnæus 171 Uredo. Nettle Fever.
1821 J. Clare Let. 3 Sept. (1985) 211 I..have been for advice to Dr. Michael..who tells me its the nettle fever.
1891 Veterinary Jrnl. June 416 The Nettle-fever originates as eruptions noticed on the surface of the skin.
1945 Skrifter utgitt av det Norske videnskaps-akademi i Oslo, Matematisk-Naturvidenskapelig Klasse No. 5. 16 Have you, during the hay fever period, eczema, hives (nettle fever), migraine, giddiness, neuralgia pains, digestive disturbances, menstruation disturbances, or other afflictions?
1986 B. M. Czarnetzki Urticaria i. 2/1 Sydenham (1624–1689) still considered nettle fever a part of erysipelas.
nettlefish n. a stinging jellyfish (cf. sense 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Acalepha > member of (jelly-fish)
nettle1601
sea-nettle1601
blubber1602
nettlefish1611
red nettle1611
squalder1659
sea-jellya1682
urticaa1682
carvel1688
sea-qualm1694
sea-bleb1700
acaleph1706
sea-blubber1717
Medusa1752
quarla1820
acalephan1834
medusite1838
jellyfish1841
naked-eyed medusa1848
slobber1849
sea-cross1850
sea-danger1850
sun squall1853
discophore1856
medusoid1856
starch1860
Discophoran1876
jelly1882
sea-blub1885
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Ortica,..a fish which pricketh as a Nettle, and as soone as he is touched changeth his colour, called a Sea-nettle, or Nettle-fish.
1858 J. Harper Sea-side Aquarium iv. 45 A fine little specimen of the Medusa, or, as it is more familiarly known, a Sea-blubber, or Nettle-fish.
1884 J. T. Rothrock Vac. Cruising Chesapeake & Delaware Bays iii. 93 As I watched the water,..one of the ‘nettle-fish’ (jelly-fish) passed by, slowly drifting out with the tide.
1890 Cent. Dict. Nettle-fish, a jelly-fish; a sea-nettle: so called from its stinging or urticating.
1922 Outers' Recreation Apr. 318/2 This prickly heat fish is called the nettlefish.
1969 M. C. Harris & N. Shure All about Allergy i. 4 He and his associates were..studying the cause of the hives produced by the Portuguese man-of-war, a species of nettlefish, or jellyfish.
2001 J. S. Harker Birth & Growth Royal N.Z. Navy xxiv. 461 Every medusal polyp and nettle-fish in the Inland Sea had been blown into Wakayama Bay.
nettle grub n. the caterpillar of any of several South Asian moths of the family Limacodidae, esp. Parasa lepida and Natada nararia, which has stinging hairs and is a pest of the tea plant.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Lepidoptera or butterflies and moths > [noun] > larva > that eats or destroys plants
leaf wormOE
wortworma1382
cole-worm1468
cole-wort worm1552
devil's gold ring1552
canker-blossom1600
peach-worm1814
knife-worm1860
hop-dog1872
nettle grub1890
1890 E. E. Green Insect Pests of Tea Plant 70 The cocoon..of the ‘nettle-grub’ is hemispherical.
1940 C. P. Clausen Entomophagous Insects 495 During some seasons it [sc. Phycita dentilinella] is found in a considerable proportion of the cocoons of the ‘nettle grub’, Parasa lepida.
2004 Island (Colombo) 3 Feb. (Environment) ii Shot-hole borer; tea-tortrix; low-country nettle grubs; other nettle grubs [etc.].
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > skin disorders > [noun] > lichen
lichen1657
prickly heat1740
lichen simplex1798
lichen simplex chronicus1798
summer rash1798
nettle-lichen1822
blight1864
lichen planus1866
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. IV. 559 The Urticose or Nettle-Lichen is, perhaps, the most distressing form of all the varieties.
nettle-spring n. English regional (East Anglian) nettle-rash.
ΚΠ
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Nettle-springe, what is more generally called nettle-rash. A small tingling and itching eruption, looking and feeling as if it had sprung up from the stinging of nettles.
1895 J. J. Raven Hist. Suffolk xix. 363 Nettle springe, for nettlerash, very likely originates in the use of spring for undergrowth or underwood.
nettle thread n. (a) thread made from the fibres of the stinging nettle; (b) Zoology= cnidocil n. at cnida n.
ΚΠ
1754 T. Smollett tr. Select Ess. Commerce, Agric., Mines, Fisheries 255 (heading) Nettle Thread, invented at Leipsic.
1887 C. M. Yonge Herb of Field (rev. ed.) xxxiii. 211 His mother liked nettle sheets better than any others, and nettle thread was once much used.
1890 Cent. Dict. Nettle-thread, one of the stinging hairs of acalephs; a cnidocil.
1893 World's Columbian Expos. xxi. 334 Belt made of colored nettle thread.
1915 Fatherland 9 Dec. 4/1 Prior to the introduction of cotton, the bast fibre of this plant was largely used in Europe for the manufacture of nettle cloth and nettle thread.
1980 J. Olsen tr. M. Hald Anc. Danish Textiles from Bogs & Burials (National Museum of Denmark) iii. 126 Nettle fibres are used for spinning up to the present day, and nettle thread for sewing skin garments.
2005 K. Kuitenbrouwer Nettle Spinner ii. 20 These four had marvelled at the intricacy of the weaving, the subtle details—white on white, shuttled in with ever-so-finely spun nettle thread—of his life and Renelde's.
ΚΠ
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 783 ‘Nettle-whips’..are elongated funnel-shaped openings,..beset with digitelli.
Derivatives
ˈnettle-like adj. resembling a nettle or its sting.
ΚΠ
1706 E. Ward Poems Divers Subj. 342 Cherish no Factious Leaders in your Court, For, Nettle-like, if stroak'd, they'll do you hurt.
1777 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4, quarto) IV. vi. 59 Many species, on being handled, affect with a nettle-like burning.
1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. I. xiii. 310 Open waste places are covered everywhere with a nettle-like wild mint.
1900 New Eng. Mag. Feb. 683/1 Any person can test the nettle-like action of these hairs by handling a brown-tail caterpillar or two.
1989 Best 14 Apr. 37/2 Lamium maculatum, (Spotted dead nettle) Low, spreading, nettle-like plant with no sting.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
nettlev.
/ˈnɛtl/, U.S. /ˈnɛd(ə)l/ 1. † c. intransitive and transitive. To sting as a nettle does. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To beat or sting (a person or animal) with nettles. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > administer corporal punishment [verb (transitive)] > whip or scourge > with plant or nettles
nettlea1425
nettlefy1602
urticate1861
ash-plant1923
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > injure [verb (transitive)] > wound > sting or bite > sting or beat with nettle
nettlea1425
nettle-sting1598
nettlefy1602
benettle1611
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 70 Vrticare, to nettle.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 85v To Netyl, Vrticari.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 644/1 I nettyll, je ourtie. If a horse be well nettelled under the tayle he wyll kycke jolyly.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 i. iii. 238 I am whipt and scourg'd with rods, Netled, and stung with pismires. View more context for this quotation
1608 R. Armin Nest of Ninnies 22 Often such forward deedes, meete with backward lurches, and they are stung with their owne follyes, netling very lust with shame and disgrace.
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) i. xv. 71 To nettle him with the strongest and most stinging Nettles that you can get.
1671 J. Ray in Philos. Trans. 1670 (Royal Soc.) 5 2064 Ants, if they get into peoples clothes,..will cause a smart and tingling, as if they were netled.
1830 J. Clare Let. c15 Sept. (1985) 513 Thankgod my head is now relieved tho it stings now & then as if nettled.
1882 Notes & Queries 15 July 54/2 It is customary in Cheshire to punish those who do not wear a sprig of oak by nettling them.
1908 Athenæum 12 Sept. 309/3 The practice of ‘nettling’ anyone found to be without a piece of oak on the morning of the 29th May is said to be peculiar to localities in Nottinghamshire.
b. transitive. To get (oneself, one's hands, etc.) stung by nettles.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > suffer type of pain [verb (reflexive)] > be stung
sting1663
nettle1719
1719 T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth II. 284 Like Boy that had nettl'd his Breech.
1869 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 267 I worked hard at lighting a fire, nettling my hands in gathering fuel.
1902 M. Barnes-Grundy Thames Camp 111 I nettled myself badly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > affect with type of pain [verb (transitive)] > affect with smart or sting
smarta1200
sting?1615
mordicate1651
punge1657
wasp1846
nettle1858
1858 G. H. Lewes Sea-side Stud. 149 If the capsules are the nettling organs, why do they not nettle in those parts where they are most abundant?
1879 S. Lanier Poems (1884) 92 A flower That clung with pain and stung with power, Yea, nettled me, body and mind.
2. † b. intransitive. To become irritated or annoyed. Also with up. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To irritate, vex, provoke, annoy. Frequently in pass with at, by, with, etc. Also occasionally intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irritation > irritate [verb (transitive)]
gremec893
grillc897
teenOE
mispay?c1225
agrillec1275
oftenec1275
tarya1300
tarc1300
atenec1320
enchafec1374
to-tarc1384
stingc1386
chafe?a1400
pokec1400
irec1420
ertc1440
rehete1447
nettlec1450
bog1546
tickle1548
touch1581
urge1593
aggravate1598
irritate1598
dishumour1600
to wind up1602
to pick at ——1603
outhumour1607
vex1625
bloody1633
efferate1653
rankle1659
spleen1689
splenetize1700
rile1724
roil1742
to put out1796
to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823
roughen1837
acerbate1845
to stroke against the hair, the wrong way (of the hair)1846
nag1849
to rub (a person, etc.) up the wrong way1859
frump1862
rattle1865
to set up any one's bristles1873
urticate1873
needle1874
draw1876
to rough up1877
to stick pins into1879
to get on ——1880
to make (someone) tiredc1883
razoo1890
to get under a person's skin1896
to get a person's goat1905
to be on at1907
to get a person's nanny1909
cag1919
to get a person's nanny-goat1928
cagmag1932
peeve1934
tick-off1934
to get on a person's tits1945
to piss off1946
bug1947
to get up a person's nose1951
tee1955
bum1970
tick1975
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 737 Ser Nicollas anoyed & nettild [a1500 Trin. Dub. netlett] with ire, As wrath as a waspe.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 372 (MED) She that is most meke..can rase vp a reke if she be well nettyld.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. x. sig. Liiiv She nettlyd hym.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry IV f. xix He beyng netteled with these vncurteous..prickes & thornes.
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin viii. 406 Cæsar, beeing netled by so many infamies..receiuud.
1602 B. Jonson Poetaster i. ii. sig. B2 I knowe this nettles you now: but answere mee. View more context for this quotation
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. (1636) 267 Cæsar, throughly nettled at the newes, resolved [etc.].
1671 J. Dryden Evening's Love i. ii. 10 She has nettled me, would I could be reveng'd on her.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 250 This last Discourse Nettl'd me.
1733 J. Swift Epist. to Lady 12 But, with Raillery to nettle, Sets your Thoughts upon their Mettle.
1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph II. 110 This foolish woman's behaviour, nettled me extremely.
1814 I. D'Israeli Quarrels Authors I. 223 A ridiculous story..nettled Pope more than the keener remonstrances.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xiii. 114 Not a little nettled however to observe that Miss Squeers and Master Squeers..were enjoying the scene from a snug corner.
1859 D. Masson Life Milton I. 618 Cottington would now and then nettle his Grace by a jibe.
1917 E. Wharton Summer i. 16 His indifference nettled her, and she picked up her work, resolved not to offer him the least assistance.
1939 ‘N. Shute’ Ordeal iii. 104 The girl was nettled.
1981 E. Blushen Shaky Relations I. i. 15 In the opening moments of such a meeting he set out to nettle and needle.
1999 D. Sobel Galileo's Daughter (2000) xv. 171 The thought of Scheiner's reprise of sunspots must have nettled Galileo, for he denounced the forthcoming book in his April correspondence.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irritation > be or become irritated [verb (intransitive)]
enchafec1380
fume and chafec1522
chafe1525
to fret and fume1551
rankle1582
to lose patience, one's temper1622
pique1664
to have no patience with1682
ruffle1719
to be out of the way (with)1740
echinate1792
nettle1810
to get one's dander up1831
to set up one's jay-feathers1880
hackle1935
to get off one's bike1939
1810 Splendid Follies II. 31 Milford..began to nettle at the fidgets of his visitor.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 51 She nettles up.
1875 E. Waugh Old Cronies ii. 21 Sally blushed and nettled up.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > exciting > excite [verb (transitive)]
astirc1000
stir?c1225
araisec1374
entalentc1374
flamec1380
reara1382
raisec1384
commove1393
kindlea1400
fluster1422
esmove1474
talent1486
heavec1540
erect?1555
inflame1560
to set on gog1560
yark1565
tickle1567
flesh1573
concitate1574
rouse1574
warmc1580
agitate1587
spirit1598
suscitate1598
fermentate1599
nettle1599
startle1602
worka1616
exagitate1621
foment1621
flush1633
exacuatea1637
ferment1667
to work up1681
pique1697
electrify1748
rattle1781
pump1791
to touch up1796
excite1821
to key up1835
to steam up1909
jazz1916
steam1922
volt1930
whee1949
to fire up1976
geek1984
1599 George a Greene sig. C1 There are fewe fellowes in our parish, so netled with loue, as I haue bene of late.
1650 R. Stapleton tr. F. Strada De Bello Belgico ix. 46 His Souldiers, that were..nettled with the example and danger of their General.
1841 G. Catlin Lett. N. Amer. Indians II. lii. 150 He rode and nettled his prancing steed in front of my door.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped ix. 80 My words nettled a very childish vanity he had.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > severity > make more severe [verb (transitive)]
gregge1340
aggrievea1425
aggravec1475
aggregec1540
aggravate1576
inflame1607
exasperate1611
to set forward(s)1611
exacerbate1660
sharpen1768
nettle1821
compound1961
the mind > emotion > suffering > cause of mental pain or suffering > exacerbation of suffering > exacerbate suffering [verb (transitive)]
sauce?1518
exasperate1561
aggravate1576
inasperate1592
to set forward1611
exacerbate1660
aggregea1678
sharpen1768
embitter1781
nettle1821
exaggerate1850
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel II. 4 Delays so lingering dampt her joys, And expectation nettled woe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.eOEv.a1425