nettle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of numerous plants of the genus Urtica, having toothed leaves, unisexual apetalous flowers, and stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact.
2. n. Any of various hairy, stinging, or prickly plants.
3. v. To sting with or as if with a nettle.
4. v. To irritate; vex.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A herbaceous plant of the genus Urtica, armed with stinging hairs. U. dioica is the common, great, or stinging nettle, native in the northern Old World, naturalized in the United States and elsewhere. This plant is now somewhat cultivated in Germany for its fiber, which, properly dressed, is fine and silky. The tender shoots are not unfrequently used as a pot-herb. This and the small nettle, U. urens, were formerly in use as diuretics and astringents. The Roman nettle of southern Europe is U. pilulifera. U. cannabina of Siberia is locally utilized as a fiber-plant.
2. n. One of several plants of other genera of the nettle family (Urticaceæ); any nettle-like plant: generally with a qualifying word.
3. To sting; irritate or vex; provoke; pique.
4. n. Nautical, same as knittle, 2.
5. n. The white dead-nettle, Lamium album.

Wiktionary

1. n. A herb of the genus Urtica, which is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
2. n. The non-stinging plant deadnettle, also in the nettle family, Urticaceae.
3. n. Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea-nettle.
4. v. literally Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting causing a rash in someone.
5. v. figuratively To pique, irritate, vex or provoke someone.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Urtica, covered with minute sharp hairs containing a poison that produces a stinging sensation. Urtica gracilis is common in the Northern, and Urtica chamædryoides in the Southern, United States. The common European species, Urtica urens and Urtica dioica, are also found in the Eastern united States. Urtica pilulifera is the Roman nettle of England.
2. v. To fret or sting; to irritate or vex; to cause to experience sensations of displeasure or uneasiness not amounting to violent anger.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of numerous plants having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact (especially of the genus Urtica or family Urticaceae)
2. v. cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
3. v. sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation