stinger

UK: /ˈstɪŋə/ US: (sting′ər)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sting•er  (sting′ər), n. 

1. Biology a person or thing that stings.
2. Biology an animal or plant having a stinging organ.
3. Zoology the sting or stinging organ of an insect or other animal.
4. Informal Terms a stinging blow, remark, or the like.
5. Wine a cocktail made of brandy and crème de menthe.
6. Military (cap.) a U.S. Army shoulder-launched, heat-seeking antiaircraft missile, with a range of 3 miles (5 km).
7. British Terms a highball of whiskey and soda.

• sting + -er¹ 1545–55

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

stinger / ˈstɪŋə/ noun

1. a person, plant, animal, etc, that stings or hurts
2. any marine creature that stings its victims, esp the box jellyfish
3. Also: stengah a whisky and soda with crushed ice

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

sting /stɪŋ/   v., stung/stʌŋ/  sting•ing, n. 
v. 

1. Zoology to prick or wound (a person or animal) with a sharp-pointed part of the body that often contains poison or venom: [~ + object]
   The bee stung her on the foot.
   [no object]
   Dogs bite and bees sting.
2. to affect painfully as a result of contact, as certain plants do: [no object]
   That plant will sting if you touch it.
   [~ + object]
   The nettle stung him.
3. to cause to feel a sharp pain: [~ + object]
   The bullet stung his arm as it grazed his shoulder.
   [no object]
   His eyes stung from the smoke.
4. to cause (someone) to feel anger, resentment, insult, etc.: [~ + object]
   Those remarks stung her deeply.
   [no object]
   The memory of that insult still stings.
5. to provoke (someone) to do some action: [~ + object + to + verb]
   Those insulting remarks stung her to reply sharply.
   [~ + object + into/to + object]
   He was finally stung into action.
6. Slang Terms to cheat or take advantage of, esp. to overcharge;
   soak:
   [~ + object] The swindlers stung me for over five thousand dollars.

n. [countable]

7. Pathology an act or instance of stinging.
8. Pathology a wound or pain caused by stinging.
9. any sharp physical or mental wound, hurt, or pain.
10. Zoology a sharp-pointed part of the body of some insects or animals, often containing venom or poison.
11. Slang Terms
    • a swindle or confidence game.
    • an apparently illegal action such as the buying of stolen goods, engaged in by undercover investigators to collect evidence of wrongdoing:
      an undercover sting filmed by hidden cameras.

sting•er, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sting (sting),  v., stung or (Obs.) stang;
stung;
sting•ing;
 n. 

v.t. 

1. Zoology to prick or wound with a sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organ.
2. to affect painfully or irritatingly as a result of contact, as certain plants do:
   to be stung by nettles.
3. to cause to smart or to cause a sharp pain:
   The blowing sand stung his eyes.
4. to cause mental or moral anguish:
   to be stung with remorse.
5. to goad or drive, as by sharp irritation.
6. Slang Terms to cheat or take advantage of, esp. to overcharge;
   soak.

v.i. 

7. to use, have, or wound with a sting, as bees.
8. to cause a sharp, smarting pain, as some plants, an acrid liquid or gas, or a slap or hit.
9. to cause acute mental pain or irritation, as annoying thoughts or one's conscience:
   The memory of that insult still stings.
10. to feel acute mental pain or irritation:
    He was stinging from the blow to his pride.
11. to feel a smarting pain, as from a blow or the sting of an insect.

n. 

12. Pathology an act or an instance of stinging.
13. Pathology a wound, pain, or smart caused by stinging.
14. any sharp physical or mental wound, hurt, or pain.
15. anything or an element in anything that wounds, pains, or irritates:
    to feel the sting of defeat; Death, where is thy sting?
16. capacity to wound or pain:
    Satire has a sting.
17. a sharp stimulus or incitement:
    driven by the sting of jealousy; the sting of ambition.
18. Botany a glandular hair on certain plants, as nettles, that emits an irritating fluid.
19. Zoology any of various sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organs of insects and other animals capable of inflicting painful or dangerous wounds.
20. Slang Terms
    • See confidence game. 
    • an ostensibly illegal operation, as the buying of stolen goods or the bribing of public officials, used by undercover investigators to collect evidence of wrongdoing.

• bef. 900; (verb, verbal) Middle English stingen, Old English stingan to pierce; cognate with Old Norse stinga to pierce, Gothic -stangan (in usstangan to pull out); (noun, nominal) Middle English sting(e), Old English: act of stinging, derivative of the verb, verbal

sting′ing•ly, adv. 
sting′less, adj.