nerve

nerve

I

nerve¹ S3 W3 /nɜːv $ nɜːrv/ noun1.  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 strain²(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

nerve² verbnerve yourself to do something/for something to force yourself to be brave enough to do something:
    The parachutist nerved himself for the jump.