/ stɪŋ; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb ( stung , stung / stʌŋ; NAmE /)
1.
( of an insect or plant ) to touch your skin or make a very small hole in it so that you feel a sharp pain :
[ vn ]
I was stung on the arm by a wasp.
[ v ]
Be careful of the nettles—they sting!
2.
to feel, or to make sb feel, a sharp pain in a part of their body :
[ v ]
I put some antiseptic on the cut and it stung for a moment.
My eyes were stinging from the smoke.
[ vn ]
Tears stung her eyes.
➡ note at hurt
3.
[ vn ] sting sb (to / into sth) | sting sb (into doing sth) to make sb feel angry or upset :
He was stung by their criticism.
Their cruel remarks stung her into action.
They launched a stinging attack on the government.
4.
[ vn ] [ often passive ] sting sb (for sth) ( informal ) to charge sb more money than they expected; to charge sb who did not expect to pay :
I got stung for a £100 meal.
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- sting sb for sth
■ noun
1.
( NAmE also sting·er ) [ C ] the sharp pointed part of an insect or creature that can go into the skin leaving a small, painful and sometimes poisonous wound :
the sting of a bee
The scorpion has a sting in its tail.
—picture at scorpion
2.
[ C ] a wound that is made when an insect, a creature or a plant stings you :
A wasp or bee sting is painful but not necessarily serious.
3.
[ C , U ] any sharp pain in your body or mind :
the sting of salt in a wound
He smiled at her, trying to take the sting out of his words (= trying to make the situation less painful or difficult) .
4.
[ C ] ( NAmE ) a clever secret plan by the police to catch criminals :
a sting operation to catch heroin dealers in Detroit
5.
[ C ] ( especially NAmE ) a clever plan by criminals to cheat people out of a lot of money
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IDIOMS
- a sting in the tail
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English sting (noun), stingan (verb), of Germanic origin.