different between nettle vs fettle

English

Wikispecies

Etymology

From Middle English netle, netel, from Old English netle, netele, netel, from Proto-West Germanic *natilu (cognate with Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele (modern Dutch netel), German Nessel, Middle Danish nædlæ (“nettle”)), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *nat? (of unknown origin, perhaps from the same source as net).

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?t'(?)l, IPA^(key): /?n?t(?)l/
• Rhymes: -?t(?)l

Noun

nettle (plural nettles)

1. Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash.
   1. Especially, most species of herb genus Urtica, the stinging nettles:
      1. Most, but not all, subspecies of Urtica dioica (common nettle),
      2. Urtica incisa (Australian nettle);
   2. Wood nettle (Laportea canadensis);
   3. Bull nettles and spurge nettles of genus Cnidoscolus:
      1. Cnidoscolus stimulosus, bull nettle, spurge nettle,
      2. Cnidoscolus texanus, Texas bull nettle,
      3. Cnidoscolus urens, bull nettle,
      4. Nettle trees or tree nettles:
         1. Various species of the genus Dendrocnide:
         2. Urera baccifera (scratchbush),
         3. Urtica ferox (tree nettle);
   4. rock nettle (Eucnide);
   5. small-leaved nettle (Dendrocnide photinophylla).
2. Certain plants that have spines or prickles:
   1. ball nettle (Solanum carolinense);
   2. Solanum elaeagnifolium, bull nettle, silver-leaf nettle, white horse-nettle;
   3. Solanum dimidiatum, western horse-nettle, robust horse-nettle;
   4. Solanum rostratum, horse-nettle;
   5. Celtis (hackberry).
3. Certain non-stinging plants, mostly in the family Lamiaceae, that resemble the species of Urtica:
   1. dead nettle, dumb nettle (Lamium), particularly Lamium album, white nettle;
   2. false nettle (Boehmeria, family Urticaceae);
   3. flame nettle or painted nettle (Coleus);
   4. hedge nettle (Stachys);
   5. hemp nettle (Galeopsis);
   6. horse nettle Agastache urticifolia,
   7. nilgiri nettle, Himalayan giant nettle (Girardinia diversifolia, family Urticaceae).
4. Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea nettle.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

nettle (third-person singular simple present nettles, present participle nettling, simple past and past participle nettled)(transitive)

1. (transitive) Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting, causing a rash in someone.

   The children were badly nettled after playing in the field.

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, Act I, Scene 3,^[1]

     […] I am whipp’d and scourged with rods,

     Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear

     Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To pique, irritate, vex or provoke.
   • 1679, Aphra Behn, The Feign’d Curtizans, London: Jacob Tonson, Act V, Scene 1, p. ,^[2]

     His Mistress: whose Mistress, what Mistress; s’life how that little word has nettled me!

   • 1741, Samuel Richardson, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, London: C. Rivington & J. Osborn, 2nd edition, Volume I, Letter 31, p. 212,^[3]

     I saw Mr. Williams was a little nettled at my Impatience […]

   • 1985, United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: People's Republic of China (issues 180-189, page 42)

     Liu, whose political writings had nettled the Taiwanese authorities, was assassinated on October 15, last year, in Daly City […]

Translations

Anagrams

• letten, telnet

English

Etymology

From Middle English fetlen (“to ready, fix, arrange, prepare”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old English fetian (“to fetch”) or from Old English fetel (“belt, girdle”). Compare Old English ?efetelsod (“provided with a belt; trimmed, polished, ornamented”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?t?l/
• Rhymes: -?t?l

Noun

fettle (plural fettles)

1. A state of proper physical condition; kilter or trim.
2. One's mental state; spirits.
3. Sand used to line a furnace.
4. (Tyneside, Cumbria) A person's mood or state, often assuming the worst.

   What's yer fettle marra?

5. (ceramics) a seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces.
6. (Britain, dialect) The act of fettling.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Usage notes

Outside of dialects, this term is a fossil, found only in the phrase in fine fettle.

Derived terms

• in fine fettle

Translations

Verb

fettle (third-person singular simple present fettles, present participle fettling, simple past and past participle fettled)

1. (Northern England) To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.
   • 1858 Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia

     He is getting his saddle altered: fettling about this and that; does not consider what danger he is in.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter VI, p. 83, [1]

     For some time after the train had gone Oscar stood on the track conversing with members of the fettling gang […]

2. (intransitive) To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Hall to this entry?)

3. (transitive) To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
4. (reflexive, Tyneside) To be upset or in a bad mood.

   Divint fettle yersel ower that!

5. In ceramics, to remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
6. (transitive, archaic) To prepare.

Derived terms

• fettler
• fettling

Translations

See also

• fash

References

• fettle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [2]
• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, ?ISBN
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [3]
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[4]