red nettle
1. † a. A variety of the stinging nettle. Obs. b. The red dead-nettle.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 52 Seo reade netele ðe þurh ærn inwyxð. a 1400 MS. Sloane 282 in Alphita (Anec. Oxon.) 193 Urtica greca, rouge urteie, reed netel. 14.. Stockh. Med. MS. in Anglia XVIII. 302 Þe crop of þe reed nettyle forȝet þou noȝt. c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 75 Take gromylle,..þe rede netelle, violet [etc.]. 1530 Palsgr. 261/2 Reed nettyll, ortiegriache. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 3 Take sedes of red nettels, and braye them to pouder in a morter. 1611 Cotgr., Ortie griesche, the small stinging red Nettle. Ortie rouge, the red Nettle. 1877 Hulme Fam. Wild Flowers I. 63 The upper leaves of the red nettle are sometimes densely clothed with silky hairs. |
† 2. (See quot.) Obs. rare—1.
| 1611 Cotgr., Cul de cheval, a small and ouglie fish,..called, the red Nettle. |