sting

You never knew if you’re being set up for a sting.

Six forgery workshops were uncovered in the sting, including two in Tuscany, one in Venice and the rest elsewhere in Europe, Italian prosecutors added.

"I felt stinging pain, it was a hard whack."

At a time when capitulating to the mainstream was regarded as selling out, R.E.M.’s move to a major label stung, as if the band had sloughed off its loyalists for the teeming masses.

For the losers, this will be a stinging realisation.