Definition of "nettle" []

• Any of numerous plants of the genus Urtica, having toothed leaves, unisexual apetalous flowers, and stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact. (noun)
• Any of various hairy, stinging, or prickly plants. (noun)
• To sting with or as if with a nettle. (verb-transitive)
• To irritate; vex. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He will make over to the ignominy of ignorant and barbaric ages, -- 'for we call a nettle but a nettle,' he will turn into a forgotten pageant of the rude, early, instinctive ages, the yet brutal ages of an undeveloped humanity, that triumphant reception at home, of the Conqueror of Foreign States."
• "Naturalist we are told, that these names are omitted, 'for we call a nettle but a nettle, and the faults of fools their folly,' -- that exclusive good he finds both passive and active, and this also is one of those primary distinctions which 'is formed in all things,' and so too is the _subdivision_ of passive good which follows."
• "a monkey, poison to a nettle, and folly to a fool, they called a nettle"