nerves

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of nerve.

   The surgeon worked carefully around the delicate nerves in the wrist.

   His nerves got the better of him just before the interview began.

   Note

   Here the plural does work the singular cannot. Counted one by one, nerves are anatomy: the bundles a surgeon steers around in the wrist, or the veins of a leaf. Taken together as one's nerves, they stand for the psyche itself, which is why nerves can get the better of someone, or something can get on them. The singular keeps a different figure: to have nerve is to have courage or gall, so having nerves and having nerve mean quite different things.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of nerve.

   Each morning she nerves herself for the long climb up the cliff face.

   He nerves himself to ask his manager for a raise.

   Note

   The verb shares its spelling with the plural noun, so context decides which one you are reading. As a verb it is transitive and most at home reflexively, followed by for or to: she nerves herself for the climb, he nerves himself to ask. It means summoning courage or strength. Rarer, informal uses run the other way: something can nerve you by annoying you, and to nerve can even mean simply to be nervous.

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