A Word a Day — nettle

with Anu Garg

nettle

(NET-l)

verb tr.:
1. To irritate.
2. To sting.

The verb senses of the word are derived from the name of the plant, any of the various plants of the genus Urtica whose leaves are covered with stinging hairs. The word is ultimately from the Indo-European root ned- (to bind) that is also the source of node, noose, annex, and connect. There’s a British and Australian idiom, grasp the nettle, meaning to tackle an unpleasant or difficult task.

“My questions about the wisdom or otherwise of disbanding the Iraqi army visibly nettled him [General David McKiernan].”
Mark Urban; When Generals Become Unstuck; BBC News; May 12, 2009.

Explore “nettle” in the Visual Thesaurus.

A man’s library is a sort of harem. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)