Meaning
To tackle a difficult, unpleasant, or risky problem boldly and directly instead of hedging, delaying, or working around it. Chiefly British English, and common in journalism and political commentary about hard decisions that leaders keep postponing. Slightly journalistic British register; approving, implying courage in the face of something bound to sting. Regional use: British English (chiefly).
Origin
Rooted in the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), whose hollow hairs inject irritants when the plant is brushed lightly; folk belief, echoed by the sources below, holds that a firm grip presses the hairs flat so they cannot pierce the skin. The proverbial lineage is long: John Lyly's Euphues (1578) already had 'he which toucheth ye nettle tenderly, is soonest stoung'; William Secker compared sin to a nettle that 'stings when its gently touched' (1660); and Aaron Hill's much-quoted verse, 'Tender-handed stroke a nettle, / And it stings you, for your pains: / Grasp it, like a man of mettle, / And it soft as silk, remains' appeared in his Works around 1750-1753. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia (1830) recorded the related saying 'Nip a nettle hard, and it will not sting you' for handling troublesome people. The fixed phrase 'grasp the nettle' crystallised out of this proverb stock in the 19th century. Aesop's fable of the boy and the nettle is often invoked as the source, but that link is a traditional association rather than a documented derivation.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- grab the nettle
- nip a nettle hard, and it will not sting you
- seize the nettle
- take the nettle firmly in hand
Usage Examples
- The board finally grasped the nettle and announced the closure of the loss-making plant.
- Rather than defer the roof repairs again, the trustees grasped the nettle and doubled the maintenance budget.
- She grasped the nettle of the staffing dispute on her first morning, calling both sides into the same room.