nerved

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of nerve.

   The captain nerved his crew for the coming storm.

   Exhausted but determined, the climbers nerved themselves for the final ascent.

   Note

   One spelling serves as both the past tense and the past participle of the regular verb nerve. Its core uses are transitive, meaning to give someone courage or strength. It often turns back on the subject, as in she nerved herself to speak. The same form is also an adjective, built from nerve plus -ed, so a nerved mind may be the old "courageous" sense rather than a verb.

2. 2
   adjectivein compounds

   Having nerves of a particular character or quality, whether steady, delicate, or easily shaken.

   Veteran surgeons are famously steel-nerved during high-risk operations.

   Only the most coolly nerved players win at the final table.

   Note

   Almost always the second half of a compound: strong-nerved, steel-nerved, weak-nerved. The first element says what kind of nerves are meant, and the compound is hyphenated before a noun, as in a strong-nerved hero. The modifier does the real work, since nerves can be steady or fragile. Without one, nerved drifts toward the obsolete "courageous" sense.

3. 3
   adjectivein compounds

   Having one or more principal veins, especially as seen running through a leaf.

   Botanists noted that the leaf was distinctly nerved along its length.

   The species has broad, three-nerved leaves typical of the genus.

   Similarveined

   Note

   A botanist's word, in which a nerve is a principal vein of a leaf and has nothing to do with the body. It usually combines with a number or a pattern, as in three-nerved or palmately nerved. Descriptions like these help tell plants apart. In writing, a number joins with a hyphen, while an -ly adverb such as palmately stays a separate word.

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