I. sting 1 /stɪŋ/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle stung /stʌŋ/)
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: stingan ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] if an insect or a plant stings you, it makes a very small hole in your skin and you feel a sharp pain because of a poisonous substance:
He was stung by a bee.
► A bee, wasp, scorpion, or plant can sting you. For a mosquito or snake, use bite .
2 . [intransitive and transitive] to make something hurt with a sudden sharp pain, or to hurt like this:
Antiseptic stings a little.
Chopping onions makes my eyes sting.
3 . [intransitive, transitive usually passive] if you are stung by a remark, it makes you feel upset:
She had been stung by criticism.
sting somebody into (doing) something
Her harsh words stung him into action.
sting somebody for something British English informal
1 . to charge someone too much for something:
The garage stung him for £300.
2 . to borrow money from someone:
Can I sting you for a fiver?
II. sting 2 BrE AmE noun
1 . WOUND [countable] a wound or mark made when an insect or plant stings you:
a bee sting
2 . INSECT [countable] British English the sharp needle-shaped part of an insect’s or animal’s body, with which it stings you SYN stinger American English
3 . PAIN [singular] a sharp pain in your eyes or skin, caused by being hit, by smoke etc:
She felt the sting of tears in her eyes.
4 . a sting in the tail if a story, event, or announcement has a sting in its tail, there is an unpleasant part at the end of it
5 . [singular] the upsetting or bad effect of a situation:
the sting of rejection
take the sting out of something (=make something less unpleasant or painful)
She smiled to take the sting out of her words.
6 . CRIME [countable] a clever way of catching criminals in which the police secretly pretend to be criminals themselves