nerve

Pluralnerves

Formsnerves, nerving, nerved

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A bundle of neurons together with the connective tissue, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels that surround them.

   Surgeons carefully avoided the facial nerve during the delicate operation.

   Damage to the optic nerve can cause permanent loss of vision.

   Note

   Anatomy's sense names the whole cable. Middle English nerve came from Medieval Latin nervus, which in classical Latin meant "sinew", and English keeps both ends of that history in its doublets neuron and sinew. Tennyson's In Memoriam (1850) calls the body "a weight of nerves without a mind," the tissue standing for mere flesh. Strictly, a nerve is the bundle with its sheaths and vessels, not one cell.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Boldness or courage; also the audacity or cheek to do something brazen.

   He admired the lead climber's nerve on the exposed rock face.

   You've got some nerve showing up here after everything you said.

   Similarcourage, boldness, audacity, guts, bravery

   Oppositecowardice, timidity

   Note

   Here the word cuts two ways, and context decides which. Admiring a climber's nerve is praise. "He had the nerve to walk in uninvited" is an accusation, closer to gall or brazenness. The construction have the nerve to + verb leans heavily toward that reproachful reading, as does a 1965 Bob Dylan line that accuses someone of having a great deal of it. Wodehouse's Jeeves in the Offing (1960) pairs it directly with audacity.

3. 3
   nouncountableplural

   A state of mental agitation brought on by fear, stress, or other negative emotions.

   The performer fought back her nerves before stepping onto the stage.

   His nerves frayed during the long wait for the test results.

   Similaranxiety, jitters, butterflies, tension

   Note

   A bad case of nerves is the classic collocation, alongside a bundle of nerves for someone overcome by anxiety. Like the plural for one's psyche, this use is plural, but here the word names the agitation itself rather than the mind that suffers it. In Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" (1997), a hospital stay blamed on nerves stretches the word to cover serious distress.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   Stamina, patience, or fortitude; the staying power to endure something difficult.

   Running an ultramarathon demands extraordinary nerve and endurance.

   His nerve held through weeks of grueling, sleepless negotiations.

   Similarstamina, fortitude, endurance, resilience

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountableplural

   One's neural makeup regarded collectively as the seat of composure and mental steadiness.

   The surgeon worked with a nerve of iron through the eight-hour procedure.

   Years of combat had tested every soldier's nerve to its limit.

   Similarcomposure, steadiness, poise, cool

   Note

   Always plural in this use, and the plural changes the meaning. Nerves are the fragile workings of the mind, whereas nerve in the singular is boldness. The everyday idiom is get on someone's nerves, meaning to irritate them steadily. One can also say that someone's nerves could no longer handle the worry. Here the word stands for temperament rather than anatomy.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To give courage to someone; to fill with boldness.

   A good leader can nerve an exhausted team to push harder.

   The crowd's roar nerved the young boxer for the next round.

   Similarembolden, hearten, encourage, steel

   Oppositediscourage, dishearten, unnerve, daunt

   Note

   Often the object is a body part, which keeps the link to the old "sinew" sense visible. In Elizabeth Gaskell's The Grey Woman (1861), the narrator "nerved my hands and limbs." Arthur Conan Doyle has a wife who "nerved his arm." In current English the reflexive nerve oneself, meaning to steel oneself for something daunting, is the common pattern, and nerve up works as a phrasal alternative.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To give strength to someone or something; to supply with energy or vigor.

   The crisp mountain air seemed to nerve his weary limbs.

   Fresh supplies nerved the troops for the coming march.

   Similarstrengthen, fortify, invigorate, steel, brace

   Oppositeweaken, enfeeble, exhaust

8. 8
   nounnonstandardcountable

   A neuron; a single cell specialized to transmit electrical impulses.

   Researchers watched a single nerve fire under the microscope.

   When a nerve activates, it passes the signal on to its neighbors.

   Similarneuron

   Note

   Everyday speech often shrinks the word to a single cell, and careful writers avoid that habit. In anatomy the term belongs to the whole bundle of neurons with their sheaths and vessels, and one cell is a neuron. "A nerve fired" passes in conversation, but in technical prose or an exam answer, "a neuron fired" is the safe choice.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A vein in a leaf, or the grain running through a piece of wood.

   The central nerve of the leaf carries water out to its edges.

   Skilled carvers follow the nerve of the wood to avoid splitting it.

   Similarvein, grain

   Note

   Botanists borrow the anatomical image: the lines running through a leaf branch and spread like a body's nerves. Contrasting nerves can give a plant ornamental value, so the word turns up in descriptions of foliage. Vein is the everyday equivalent for leaves, and grain is the usual word for timber. In those settings, nerve marks the speaker as using the botanical vocabulary.

10. 10
    noununcountable

    The springiness of raw rubber or other polymers that resists lasting changes of shape while the material is being processed.

    The compound's high nerve made it spring back after each pass through the mill.

    Reducing the nerve in the stock lets it hold the molded shape.

    Note

    A rubber processor's word for stubbornness in the stock. Raw rubber with nerve springs back instead of keeping the shape it is pressed into. The related noun nerviness names the same quick recovery from strain. The remedy is to break the rubber down, or masticate it, on the mill before the other compounding ingredients go in. In this trade, high nerve is a problem to work out, not a virtue.

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