I. nerve 1 S3 W3 /nɜːv $ nɜːrv/ BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ nervous , ↑ nerveless , ↑ nerve-racking , ↑ nervy , ↑ unnerving ; noun : ↑ nerve , nerves, ↑ nervousness ; verb : ↑ nerve , ↑ unnerve ; adverb : ↑ nervously ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: nervus ]
1 . WORRIED FEELINGS nerves [plural]
a) used to talk about someone being worried or frightened
sb’s nerves are on edge/in tatters/frayed (=someone feels very worried or frightened)
calm/steady your nerves (=stop yourself feeling worried or frightened)
Sean drank a large glass of brandy to calm his nerves.
be a bundle/bag of nerves (=be extremely worried or frightened)
I remember you were a bundle of nerves on your wedding day.
b) the feeling of being worried or a little frightened:
A lot of people suffer from nerves before they go on stage.
‘What’s wrong with Rachel?’ ‘It’s just nerves. She’s got her driving test tomorrow.’
exam/first-night etc nerves
2 . BODY PART [countable] nerves are parts inside your body which look like threads and carry messages between the brain and other parts of the body:
a condition which affects the nerves in the back
trapped nerve British English pinched nerve American English (=a nerve that has been crushed between two muscles etc, causing pain)
3 . COURAGE [uncountable] courage and confidence in a dangerous, difficult, or frightening situation
the nerve to do something
Not many people have the nerve to stand up and speak in front of a large audience.
She finally found the nerve to tell him she wanted a divorce.
It takes a lot of nerve to report a colleague for sexual harassment.
lose your nerve (=suddenly become very nervous so that you cannot do what you intended to do)
Jensen would’ve won if he hadn’t lost his nerve.
hold/keep your nerve (=remain calm in a difficult situation)
It’s hard to keep your nerve when people keep interrupting you.
4 . get on sb’s nerves informal if someone gets on your nerves, they annoy you, especially by doing something all the time:
She’s always moaning. It really gets on my nerves.
5 . LACK OF RESPECT [singular] spoken if you say someone has a nerve, you mean that they have done something unsuitable or impolite, without seeming to be embarrassed about behaving in this way SYN cheek :
He’s got a nerve asking for more money.
‘She didn’t say sorry or anything.’ ‘What a nerve!’
have the nerve to do something
She lets me do all the work, and then she has the nerve to criticize my cooking.
6 . touch/hit a (raw) nerve to mention something that makes someone upset, angry, or embarrassed, especially accidentally:
Without realizing, he had touched a raw nerve.
7 . nerves of steel the ability to be brave and calm in a dangerous or difficult situation:
The job requires nerves of steel.
⇨ strain every nerve at ↑ strain 2 (6)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 1)
■ verbs
▪ calm/steady somebody's nerves (=make someone feel less worried or nervous)
She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves.
▪ settle/soothe somebody's nerves (=make someone feel less worried or nervous)
She hoped that a cup of tea would soothe her nerves.
▪ suffer from nerves (=often feel worried or nervous)
He suffered from nerves and could no longer perform on stage.
▪ your nerves jangle (=you feel extremely nervous or worried)
Suddenly she was wide awake, her nerves jangling.
■ NOUN + nerves
▪ exam nerves
Quite a few of the students suffered from exam nerves.
▪ first-night nerves (=before the first night of a performance)
She always suffered from first-night nerves.
■ phrases
▪ somebody's nerves are on edge (=they feel nervous or worried about what might happen)
His nerves were on edge as he entered the dark room.
▪ somebody's nerves are tattered/frayed/shattered (=they feel very nervous or worried)
Everyone's nerves were frayed by the end of the week.
▪ somebody's nerves are stretched (to breaking point) (=they feel very nervous or worried)
Her nerves were stretched almost to breaking point as she waited.
▪ be a bag/bundle of nerves (=to feel extremely nervous or worried)
I was a bag of nerves during the interview.
▪ be shaking with nerves (=to be extremely nervous)
Just before the audition he was shaking with nerves.
▪ be in a state of nerves (=to be in a nervous condition)
She was in such a state of nerves that she jumped at every noise.
▪ an attack of nerves (=a time when you feel very nervous)
Harrison had an attack of nerves before the match.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 3)
■ verbs
▪ have the nerve to do something
I just didn't have the nerve to tell them the truth.
▪ find the nerve to do something
He couldn't find the nerve to ask her out.
▪ hold/keep your nerve (=remain calm and confident in a difficult situation)
The team held their nerve and went on to win.
▪ lose your nerve (=suddenly lose the courage or confidence to do something)
I wanted to ask him the question, but I lost my nerve.
▪ test somebody's nerve (=test whether someone will have the courage to do something difficult)
The next few days would test their nerve to the limit.
▪ somebody's nerve fails (him/her) (=someone suddenly loses the courage or confidence to do something)
At the last moment, her nerve failed her.
▪ somebody's nerve breaks (=someone loses the courage to do something or continue something)
The police hoped his nerve would break and he'd give himself away.
■ phrases
▪ it takes nerve to do something (=something requires a lot of courage or confidence)
It takes nerve to stand up for what you believe.
▪ a failure/loss of nerve (=a situation in which someone lacks the courage to do something)
They accused the government of a loss of nerve.
II. nerve 2 BrE AmE verb
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ nervous , ↑ nerveless , ↑ nerve-racking , ↑ nervy , ↑ unnerving ; noun : ↑ nerve , nerves, ↑ nervousness ; verb : ↑ nerve , ↑ unnerve ; adverb : ↑ nervously ]
nerve yourself to do something/for something to force yourself to be brave enough to do something:
The parachutist nerved himself for the jump.