(v. t.) Any sharp organ of offense and defense, especially when connected with a poison gland, and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The sting of a bee or wasp is a modified ovipositor. The caudal sting, or spine, of a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion.
(v. t.) A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secrets an acrid fluid, as in nettles. The points of these hairs usually break off in the wound, and the acrid fluid is pressed into it.
(v. t.) Anything that gives acute pain, bodily or mental; as, the stings of remorse; the stings of reproach.
(v. t.) The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
(v. t.) A goad; incitement.
(v. t.) The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
(v. t.) To pierce or wound with a sting; as, bees will sting an animal that irritates them; the nettles stung his hands.
(v. t.) To pain acutely; as, the conscience is stung with remorse; to bite.
(v. t.) To goad; to incite, as by taunts or reproaches.
Example Sentences:
(1) He's called out for his lack of imagination in a stinging review by a leading food critic (Oliver Platt) and - after being introduced to Twitter by his tech-savvy son (Emjay Anthony) - accidentally starts a flame war that will lead to him losing his job.
(2) I preferred the Times version, as my father would have done had he any interest in Sting.
(3) His words earned a stinging rebuke from first lady Michelle Obama , but at a Friday rally in North Carolina he said of one accuser, Jessica Leeds: “Yeah, I’m gonna go after you.
(4) In 31 patients in whom specific IgE fell to low (less than 6% counts bound) or unmeasurable levels, immunotherapy was discontinued, and sting challenge was carried out 1 to 3 years later.
(5) Colleagues involved in similar Telegraph stings this week included Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary, Ed Davey, a business minister, and Steve Webb, the pensions minister.
(6) Leading figures including the musician Sting, business tycoon Sir Richard Branson and comedian Russell Brand have called for the possession of drugs to be decriminalised.
(7) "It wouldn't have covered the costs but it would have taken the sting out of what I'd spent," he says.
(8) Moderate to severe SRs were equally likely after stings of yellow jacket, white-faced hornet, and yellow hornet (65%), honeybee (67%), or wasp (70%), although historical SRs were reported more often after stings of yellow jacket, white-faced hornet, or yellow hornet (30%) than after honeybee (19%) or wasp (14%) stings.
(9) Dramatic cases of hymenoptera stings have been reported from various sources for several years now.
(10) We can expect a greater number of toxic reactions related to multiple stings in addition to the more familiar allergic (IgE-mediated) reactions.
(11) Insect sting challenge in 14 patients with urticarial reaction to last insect sting resulted in two systemic reactions (95% confidence limits 0-6 patients), a reaction rate of 14%.
(12) Those patients who were re-stung within 2 weeks (anergic period) or over 5 years after a generalized reaction to a sting had significantly improved response.
(13) We review the reported cases at our institution with all types of bites and stings.
(14) A frequent cause of contact urticaria is skin exposure to the common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).
(15) "We're trying to get Sting to wear a Pussy Riot T-shirt at his concert tonight," he'd told me the day before.
(16) 62 patients who had been stung by a red scorpion were admitted from January to December 1990: 18 with hypertension, 15 with supraventricular tachycardia, 11 with pulmonary oedema, and 18 with local pain at the site of sting but no systemic involvement.
(17) The standards committee report by a cross-party group of MPs said it "deplored" stings but would "not hesitate to act in such cases if wrongdoing had occurred".
(18) Sting – a man who had split the Police to pursue a more adult-oriented career, and who would in the following year ponder such poptastic issues as how much Russians loved their children and the plight of miners – took that job in 1984, while this year it falls to Guy Garvey, who may as well just change his middle name to 6Music.
(19) Also, the clinical pattern and treatment of the acute renal failure secondary to bee stings are discussed.
(20) Fifty nine patients (30%) with RXN3 responses to wasps failed to react to either test, while this applied to only 19 (6%) of the patients with RXN3 responses to bee stings.