nerve
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: nervé
English
Etymology
Recorded since circa 1374 as Middle English nerve, from Medieval Latin nervus (“nerve”), from Latin nervus (“sinew”). Doublet of neuron and sinew.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /nɝv/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /nɜːv/
- (New York City) IPA(key): /nɜɪv/
- (Scotland) IPA(key): /nɛɾv/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)v
Noun
nerve (plural nerves)
- A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics.
- Hyponyms: see Thesaurus:nerve
- The nerves can be seen through the skin.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XII:
- Like her I go; I cannot stay;
I leave this mortal ark behind,
A weight of nerves without a mind,
And leave the cliffs, and haste away […]
- (nonstandard, colloquial) A neuron.
- (botany) A vein in a leaf; a grain in wood.
- Some plants have ornamental value because of their contrasting nerves.
- Courage; boldness; audacity; gall.
- Synonyms: brashness, brazenness, balls; see also Thesaurus:courage
- He had the nerve to enter my house uninvited.
- He hasn't the nerve to tell her he likes her.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- “Oh?” she said. “So you have decided to revise my guest list for me? You have the nerve, the – the –” I saw she needed helping out. “Audacity,” I said, throwing her the line. “The audacity to dictate to me who I shall have in my house.” It should have been “whom”, but I let it go. “You have the –” “Crust.” “– the immortal rind,” she amended, and I had to admit it was stronger, “to tell me whom” – she got it right that time – “I may entertain at Brinkley Court and who” – wrong again – “I may not.”
- 1965, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Positively 4th Street”:
- You got a lot of nerve / To say you are my friend / When I was down / You just stood there grinning
- 2021 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Hungary 0-4 England”, in BBC:
- Southgate's side kept their nerve and discipline in the unsettling, intimidating surroundings of Budapest, with the behaviour of Hungary's fans leaving much to be desired, to turn up the heat and punish their opponents ruthlessly once they had gone ahead.
- Patience; stamina; endurance, fortitude.
- The web-team found git-sed is really a time and nerve saver when doing mass changes on your repositories
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 42–43, lines 639–640:
- He led me on to mightiest deeds, / Above the nerve of mortal arm.
- (in the plural) One's neural structures considered collectively as, and conceptually equated with, one's psyche.
- All these rationalizations for asinine behavior are getting on my nerves.
- His nerves could no longer handle the worry.
- (in the plural) Mental agitation caused by fear, stress or other negative emotions.
- 1997, Harvey Danger (lyrics and music), “Flagpole Sitta”, in Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?:
- Put me in the hospital for nerves and then they had to commit me
- Ellie had a bad case of nerves before the big test; she was a bundle of nerves.
- (polymer technology) The elastic resistance of raw rubber or other polymers to permanent deformation during processing.
- 1959, Newell A Perry, Eric O Ridgway, US patent US2870103 A
- The nerviness (ability to recover quickly from strain or stretching) ... generally requires it to be broken down or masticated on the mill before the other compounding ingredients are added. In the break-down operation, heat is inherently generated by the sheer action of the milling or mixing equipment on the polymer. Therefore, it is difficult to maintain the desired low temperatures during the milling or mixing... An object of this invention is to reduce the inherent nerve of ... polymers ... during break-down.
- 1959, Newell A Perry, Eric O Ridgway, US patent US2870103 A
- (obsolete) Sinew, tendon.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Come on; obey: / Thy nerves are in their infancy again, / And have no vigour in them.
- 1725, Homer, “Book X”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
- Whilst thus their fury rages at the bay,
My sword our cables cut, I call'd to weigh,
And charg'd my men, as they from fate would fly,
Each nerve to strain, each bending oar to ply.
Derived terms
(Terms derived from the noun nerve):
- abducens nerve
- abducent nerve
- accessory nerve
- acoustic nerve
- alveolar nerve
- auditory nerve
- auriculotemporal nerve
- bundle of nerves
- cavernous nerve
- cervical nerve
- ciliary nerve
- cochlear nerve
- cranial nerve
- deep petrosal nerve
- deep temporal nerve
- denervate
- denervated
- eighth cranial nerve
- eighth nerve
- eleventh cranial nerve
- facial nerve
- fifth cranial nerve
- fifth nerve
- first cranial nerve
- fourth cranial nerve
- freshman's nerve
- frontal nerve
- get on somebody's nerves, get on one's nerves
- get on someone's last nerve
- glossopalatine nerve
- glossopharyngeal nerve
- greater occipital nerve
- greater petrosal nerve
- hit a nerve
- hit a raw nerve
- hold one's nerve
- hypoglossal nerve
- inferior alveolar nerve
- inferior laryngeal nerve
- infraorbital nerve
- intermediate nerve
- ischiatic nerve
- Jacobson nerve
- keep one's nerve
- lacrimal nerve
- laryngeal nerve
- lateral pectoral nerve
- lateral pterygoid nerve
- lesser occipital nerve
- lesser petrosal nerve
- lingual nerve
- long ciliary nerve
- lose one's nerve
- mandibular nerve
- maxillary nerve
- medial pterygoid nerve
- median nerve
- mental nerve
- motor nerve
- nasal nerve
- nasociliary nerve
- nasopalatine nerve
- nervation
- nerve agent
- nerve cell
- nerve center
- nerve centre
- nerve cord
- nerve ending
- nerve fiber, nerve fibre
- nerve gas
- nerve growth factor
- nerve impulse
- nerve-jangling
- nerveless
- nerve net
- nerve of the pterygoid canal
- nerve of Wrisberg
- nerve out
- nerve rack
- nerve-rack
- nerve-racked
- nerve-racking
- nerve-rackingly
- nerve-shredder
- nerve-shredding
- nerves of steel
- nerve trunk
- nerve up
- nerve wrack
- nerve-wrack
- nerve-wracked
- nerve-wracking
- nerve-wreck
- nervi-, nervo-
- nervy
- ninth cranial nerve
- occipital nerve
- oculomotor nerve
- olfactory nerve
- ophthalmic nerve
- optic nerve
- palatine nerve
- pathetic nerve
- petrosal nerve
- phrenic nerve
- pneumogastric nerve
- pterygoid nerve
- radial nerve
- raw nerve
- recurrent laryngeal nerve
- saphenous nerve
- sciatic nerve
- second cranial nerve
- seventh cranial nerve
- short ciliary nerve
- sixth cranial nerve
- spinal nerve
- strain every nerve
- strike a nerve
- superior alveolar nerve
- superior laryngeal nerve
- supraclavicular nerve
- supraorbital nerve
- supratrochlear nerve
- sural nerve
- tenth cranial nerve
- the nerve of
- third cranial nerve
- touch a nerve
- touch a raw nerve
- trigeminal nerve
- trochlear nerve
- twelfth cranial nerve
- tympanic nerve
- ulnar nerve
- unnerved
- vagus nerve
- ventral nerve cord
- vestibular nerve
- vestibulocochlear nerve
- Vidian nerve
- war of nerves
- Wrisberg's nerve
- zygomatic nerve
- zygomaticofacial nerve
- zygomaticotemporal nerve
Related terms
Translations
bundle of neurons
|
colloquial: neuron
botany: vein; grain in wood
courage, boldness
|
audacity
|
patience
|
stamina
neural structures considered collectively, and conceptually equated with, one's psyche
mental agitation caused by a negative emotion
polymer technology: elastic resistance of raw rubber or other polymer
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
nerve (third-person singular simple present nerves, present participle nerving, simple past and past participle nerved)
- (transitive) To give courage.
- May their example nerve us to face the enemy.
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
- The yellow-bearded Mailey, the old warrior, scarred with many combats and eager for more, stood beside his wife, the gentle squire who bore his weapons and nerved his arm.
- 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Grey Woman:
- And how I strained my ears, and nerved my hands and limbs, beginning to twitch with convulsive movements, which I feared might betray me!
- (transitive) To give strength; to supply energy or vigour.
- The liquor nerved up several of the men after their icy march.
- 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 289:
- The shock nerved her, and she ran aimlessly till she fell, and for a time lay, but making a barrier of her arms, that the child should not be crushed.
Usage notes
- Sometimes used with “up”.
Synonyms
- (give strength): See also Thesaurus:strengthen
Translations
encourage — see encourage
strengthen — see strengthen
Anagrams
Dutch
Noun
nerve f (plural nerven, diminutive nerfje n)
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
nerve
- inflection of nerver:
German
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
nerve
- inflection of nerven:
Latin
Noun
nerve
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus, from Proto-Italic *snēuros, from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥; thus a doublet of synwe.
Forms with /f/ reflect either final devoicing or Middle French nerf.
Pronunciation
Noun
nerve (plural nerves)
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “nerve, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron), and Latin nervus.
Noun
nerve m (definite singular nerven, indefinite plural nerver, definite plural nervene)
Derived terms
References
“nerve” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron), and Latin nervus.
Noun
nerve m (definite singular nerven, indefinite plural nervar, definite plural nervane)
Derived terms
References
- “nerve” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
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