nerve

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics.

   The nerves can be seen through the skin.

2. 2
   noun

   A vein in a leaf; a grain in wood.

   Some plants have ornamental value because of their contrasting nerves.

3. 3
   noun

   Courage; boldness; audacity; gall.

   He had the nerve to enter my house uninvited.

4. 4
   noun

   Patience; stamina; endurance, fortitude.

   The web-team found git-sed is really a time and nerve saver when doing mass changes on your repositories

5. 5
   noun

   One's neural structures considered collectively as, and conceptually equated with, one's psyche.

   All these rationalizations for asinine behavior are getting on my nerves.

6. 6
   noun

   Mental agitation caused by fear, stress or other negative emotions.

   Ellie had a bad case of nerves before the big test; she was a bundle of nerves.

7. 7
   noun

   The elastic resistance of raw rubber or other polymers to permanent deformation during processing.

   The nerviness (ability to recover quickly from strain or stretching) ... generally requires it to be broken down or masticated on the mill before the other compounding ingredients are added. In the break-down operation, heat is inherently generated by the sheer action of the milling or mixing equipment on the polymer. Therefore, it is difficult to maintain the desired low temperatures during the milling or mixing... An object of this invention is to reduce the inherent nerve of ... polymers ... during break-down.

8. 8
   noun

   Sinew, tendon.

   Come on; obey: / Thy nerves are in their infancy again, / And have no vigour in them.

Etymology

Recorded since circa 1374 as Middle English nerve, from Medieval Latin nervus (“nerve”), from Latin nervus (“sinew”). Doublet of neuron and sinew. Verb sense 4 (“to get on (someone’s) nerves”) is chiefly a semantic loan from German nerven.