devil vs nettle

devil

verb
  • To annoy or bother. 

  • To work as a ‘devil’; to work for a lawyer or writer without fee or recognition. 

  • To prepare a sidedish of shelled halved boiled eggs to whose extracted yolks are added condiments and spices, which mixture then is placed into the halved whites to be served. 

  • To make like a devil; to invest with the character of a devil. 

  • To grill with cayenne pepper; to season highly in cooking, as with pepper. 

  • To finely grind cooked ham or other meat with spices and condiments. 

name
  • The chief devil; Satan. 

noun
  • A wicked or naughty person, or one who harbors reckless, spirited energy, especially in a mischievous way; usually said of a young child. 

  • A barren, unproductive and unused area. 

  • A Tasmanian devil. 

  • A printer's assistant. Also (India) "a poltergeist that haunts printing works". 

  • A dish, as a bone with the meat, broiled and excessively peppered; a grill with Cayenne pepper. 

  • A fictional image of a man, usually red or orange in skin color; with a set of horns on his head, a pointed goatee and a long tail and carrying a pitchfork; that represents evil and portrayed to children in an effort to discourage bad behavior. 

  • A person, especially a man; used to express a particular opinion of him, usually in the phrases poor devil and lucky devil. 

  • A dust devil. 

  • A machine for tearing or cutting rags, cotton, etc. 

  • An endurance event where riders who fall behind are periodically eliminated. 

  • An evil creature, the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. 

  • The bad part of the conscience; the opposite to the angel. 

  • Hell. 

  • A thing that is awkward or difficult to understand or do. 

nettle

verb
  • To pique, irritate, vex or provoke. 

  • Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting, causing a rash in someone. 

noun
  • Urtica incisa (Australian nettle); 

  • Cnidoscolus urens, bull nettle, 

  • ball nettle (Solanum carolinense); 

  • Various species of the genus Dendrocnide 

  • Most, but not all, subspecies of Urtica dioica (common nettle), 

  • Wood nettle (Laportea canadensis); 

  • Cnidoscolus texanus, Texas bull nettle, 

  • rock nettle (Eucnide); 

  • small-leaved nettle (Dendrocnide photinophylla). 

  • Solanum elaeagnifolium, bull nettle, silver-leaf nettle, white horse-nettle; 

  • false nettle (Boehmeria, family Urticaceae); 

  • flame nettle or painted nettle (Coleus); 

  • hedge nettle (Stachys); 

  • hemp nettle (Galeopsis); 

  • Cnidoscolus stimulosus, bull nettle, spurge nettle, 

  • horse nettle Agastache urticifolia, 

  • Celtis (hackberry). 

  • nilgiri nettle, Himalayan giant nettle (Girardinia diversifolia, family Urticaceae). 

  • Solanum rostratum, horse-nettle; 

  • dead nettle, dumb nettle (Lamium), particularly Lamium album, white nettle; 

  • Urtica ferox (tree nettle); 

  • Solanum dimidiatum, western horse-nettle, robust horse-nettle; 

  • Loosely, anything which causes a similarly stinging rash, such as a jellyfish or sea nettle. 

  • Urera baccifera (scratchbush), 

How often have the words devil and nettle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )