Net·tle 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 chamaedryoides 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.
 Note: ☞ The term nettle has been given to many plants related to, or to some way resembling, the true nettle; as: Australian nettle, a stinging tree or shrub of the genus Laportea (as Laportea gigas and Laportea moroides); -- also called nettle tree.
 Bee nettle, Hemp nettle, a species of Galeopsis. See under Hemp.
 Blind nettle, Dead nettle, a harmless species of Lamium.
 False nettle (Baehmeria cylindrica), a plant common in the United States, and related to the true nettles.
 Hedge nettle, a species of Stachys.  See under Hedge.
 Horse nettle (Solanum Carolinense).  See under Horse.
 nettle tree. (a) Same as Hackberry. (b) See Australian nettle (above).
 Spurge nettle, a stinging American herb of the Spurge family (Jatropha urens).
 Wood nettle, a plant (Laportea Canadensis) which stings severely, and is related to the true nettles.
 Nettle cloth, a kind of thick cotton stuff, japanned, and used as a substitute for leather for various purposes.
 Nettle rash Med., an eruptive disease resembling the effects of whipping with nettles.
 Sea nettle Zool., a medusa.


 Blind a.
 1. Destitute of the sense of seeing, either by natural defect or by deprivation; without sight.
 He that is strucken blind can not forget
 The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.   --Shak.
 2. Not having the faculty of discernment; destitute of intellectual light; unable or unwilling to understand or judge; as, authors are blind to their own defects.
 But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,
 That they may stumble on, and deeper fall.   --Milton.
 3. Undiscerning; undiscriminating; inconsiderate.
    This plan is recommended neither to blind approbation nor to blind reprobation.   --Jay.
 4. Having such a state or condition as a thing would have to a person who is blind; not well marked or easily discernible; hidden; unseen; concealed; as, a blind path; a blind ditch.
 5. Involved; intricate; not easily followed or traced.
    The blind mazes of this tangled wood.   --Milton.
 6. Having no openings for light or passage; as, a blind wall; open only at one end; as, a blind alley; a blind gut.
 7. Unintelligible, or not easily intelligible; as, a blind passage in a book; illegible; as, blind writing.
 8. Hort. Abortive; failing to produce flowers or fruit; as, blind buds; blind flowers.
 Blind alley, an alley closed at one end; a cul-de-sac.
 Blind axle, an axle which turns but does not communicate motion. --Knight.
 Blind beetle, one of the insects apt to fly against people, esp. at night.
 Blind cat Zool., a species of catfish (Gronias nigrolabris), nearly destitute of eyes, living in caverns in Pennsylvania.
 Blind coal, coal that burns without flame; anthracite coal. --Simmonds.
 Blind door, Blind window, an imitation of a door or window, without an opening for passage or light. See Blank door or Blank window, under Blank, a.
 Blind level Mining, a level or drainage gallery which has a vertical shaft at each end, and acts as an inverted siphon. --Knight.
 Blind nettle Bot., dead nettle. See Dead nettle, under Dead.
 Blind shell Gunnery, a shell containing no charge, or one that does not explode.
 Blind side, the side which is most easily assailed; a weak or unguarded side; the side on which one is least able or disposed to see danger. --Swift.
 Blind snake Zool., a small, harmless, burrowing snake, of the family Typhlopidæ, with rudimentary eyes.
 Blind spot Anat., the point in the retina of the eye where the optic nerve enters, and which is insensible to light.
 Blind tooling, in bookbinding and leather work, the indented impression of heated tools, without gilding; -- called also blank tooling, and blind blocking.
 Blind wall, a wall without an opening; a blank wall.


 Dead a.
 1. Deprived of life; -- opposed to alive and living; reduced to that state of a being in which the organs of motion and life have irrevocably ceased to perform their functions; as, a dead tree; a dead man. “The queen, my lord, is dead.”
    The crew, all except himself, were dead of hunger.   --Arbuthnot.
    Seek him with candle, bring him dead or living.   --Shak.
 2. Destitute of life; inanimate; as, dead matter.
 3. Resembling death in appearance or quality; without show of life; deathlike; as, a dead sleep.
 4. Still as death; motionless; inactive; useless; as, dead calm; a dead load or weight.
 5. So constructed as not to transmit sound; soundless; as, a dead floor.
 6. Unproductive; bringing no gain; unprofitable; as, dead capital; dead stock in trade.
 7. Lacking spirit; dull; lusterless; cheerless; as, dead eye; dead fire; dead color, etc.
 8. Monotonous or unvaried; as, a dead level or pain; a dead wall. “The ground is a dead flat.”
 9. Sure as death; unerring; fixed; complete; as, a dead shot; a dead certainty.
    I had them a dead bargain.   --Goldsmith.
 10. Bringing death; deadly.
 11. Wanting in religious spirit and vitality; as, dead faith; dead works. “Dead in trespasses.”
 12. Paint. (a) Flat; without gloss; -- said of painting which has been applied purposely to have this effect. (b) Not brilliant; not rich; thus, brown is a dead color, as compared with crimson.
 13. Law Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property; as, one banished or becoming a monk is civilly dead.
 14. Mach. Not imparting motion or power; as, the dead spindle of a lathe, etc.  See Spindle.
 15. Elec. Carrying no current, or producing no useful effect; -- said of a conductor in a dynamo or motor, also of a telegraph wire which has no instrument attached and, therefore, is not in use.
 16.  Out of play; regarded as out of the game; -- said of a ball, a piece, or a player under certain conditions in cricket, baseball, checkers, and some other games.
    [In golf], a ball is said to lie dead when it lies so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke.    --Encyc. of Sport.
 Dead ahead Naut., directly ahead; -- said of a ship or any object, esp. of the wind when blowing from that point toward which a vessel would go.
 Dead angle Mil., an angle or space which can not be seen or defended from behind the parapet.
 Dead block, either of two wooden or iron blocks intended to serve instead of buffers at the end of a freight car.
 Dead calm Naut., no wind at all.
 Dead center, or Dead point Mach., either of two points in the orbit of a crank, at which the crank and connecting rod lie a straight line. It corresponds to the end of a stroke; as, A and B are dead centers of the crank mechanism in which the crank C drives, or is driven by, the lever L.
 Dead color Paint., a color which has no gloss upon it.
 Dead coloring Oil paint., the layer of colors, the preparation for what is to follow. In modern painting this is usually in monochrome.
 Dead door Shipbuilding, a storm shutter fitted to the outside of the quarter-gallery door.
 Dead flat Naut., the widest or midship frame.
 Dead freight Mar. Law, a sum of money paid by a person who charters a whole vessel but fails to make out a full cargo. The payment is made for the unoccupied capacity. --Abbott.
 Dead ground Mining, the portion of a vein in which there is no ore.
 Dead hand, a hand that can not alienate, as of a person civilly dead. “Serfs held in dead hand.” --Morley. See Mortmain.
 Dead head Naut., a rough block of wood used as an anchor buoy.
 Dead heat, a heat or course between two or more race horses, boats, etc., in which they come out exactly equal, so that neither wins.
 Dead horse, an expression applied to a debt for wages paid in advance. [Law]
 Dead language, a language which is no longer spoken or in common use by a people, and is known only in writings, as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
 Dead letter. (a) A letter which, after lying for a certain fixed time uncalled for at the post office to which it was directed, is then sent to the general post office to be opened. (b) That which has lost its force or authority; as, the law has become a dead letter.
 Dead-letter office, a department of the general post office where dead letters are examined and disposed of.
 Dead level, a term applied to a flat country.
 Dead lift, (a) a direct lift, without assistance from mechanical advantage, as from levers, pulleys, etc.; hence, an extreme emergency. “(As we say) at a dead lift.” --Robynson (More's Utopia). (b) Weighlifting The lifting of a weight from the ground, without raising it to the shoulders.
 Dead line Mil., a line drawn within or around a military prison, to cross which involves for a prisoner the penalty of being instantly shot.
 Dead load Civil Engin., a constant, motionless load, as the weight of a structure, in distinction from a moving load, as a train of cars, or a variable pressure, as of wind.
 Dead march Mus., a piece of solemn music intended to be played as an accompaniment to a funeral procession.
 Dead nettle Bot., a harmless plant with leaves like a nettle (Lamium album).
 Dead oil Chem., the heavy oil obtained in the distillation of coal tar, and containing phenol, naphthalus, etc.
 Dead plate Mach., a solid covering over a part of a fire grate, to prevent the entrance of air through that part.
 Dead pledge, a mortgage. See Mortgage.
 Dead point. Mach. See Dead center.
 Dead reckoning Naut., the method of determining the place of a ship from a record kept of the courses sailed as given by compass, and the distance made on each course as found by log, with allowance for leeway, etc., without the aid of celestial observations.
 Dead rise, the transverse upward curvature of a vessel's floor.
 Dead rising, an elliptical line drawn on the sheer plan to determine the sweep of the floorheads throughout the ship's length.
 Dead-Sea apple. See under Apple.
 Dead set. See under Set.
 Dead shot. (a) An unerring marksman. (b) A shot certain to be made.
 Dead smooth, the finest cut made; -- said of files.
 Dead wall Arch., a blank wall unbroken by windows or other openings.
 Dead water Naut., the eddy water closing in under a ship's stern when sailing.
 Dead weight. (a) A heavy or oppressive burden. --Dryden. (b) Shipping A ship's lading, when it consists of heavy goods; or, the heaviest part of a ship's cargo. (c) Railroad The weight of rolling stock, the live weight being the load. --Knight.
 Dead wind Naut., a wind directly ahead, or opposed to the ship's course.
 To be dead, to die. [Obs.]
    I deme thee, thou must algate be dead.   --Chaucer.
 Syn: -- Inanimate; deceased; extinct. See Lifeless.


 dead nettle
      n 1: foul-smelling perennial Eurasiatic herb with a green
           creeping rhizome [syn: hedge nettle, {Stachys
           sylvatica]
      2: any of various plants of the genus Lamium having clusters of
         small usually purplish flowers with two lips
      3: coarse bristly Eurasian plant with white or reddish flowers
         and foliage resembling that of a nettle; common as a weed
         in United States [syn: hemp nettle, Galeopsis tetrahit]
      4: a plants of the genus Pilea having drooping green flower
         clusters and smooth translucent stems and leaves [syn: richweed,
          clearweed, Pilea pumilla]