Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To sting or whip with or as if with nettles.
  • intransitive verb To produce a stinging or itching sensation.
  • adjective Characterized by the presence of hives.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To sting like a nettle; nettle with stinging hairs; produce urtication in or of.
  • To have or exercise the faculty of urticating; effect urtication; sting.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb To sting with, or as with, nettles; to irritate; to annoy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To have or produce a stinging sensation, as of nettles or urticating hair.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation
  • verb whip with or as with nettles

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin urticāre, urticāt-, from Latin urtica, nettle.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • To sting with, or as if with, nettles.

    July 24, 2007

  • Pronounced \ˈər-tə-ˌkāt\

    July 17, 2017