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nerve

Pronunciation: /nɜːv/

The English word “nerve” has 15 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics.
  2. A neuron.
  3. A vein in a leaf; a grain in wood.
  4. Courage; boldness; audacity; gall.
  5. Patience; stamina; endurance, fortitude.
  6. One's neural structures considered collectively as, and conceptually equated with, one's psyche.
  7. Mental agitation caused by fear, stress or other negative emotions.
  8. The elastic resistance of raw rubber or other polymers to permanent deformation during processing.
  9. Sinew, tendon.
  10. A particular simplicial set constructed from a category.

verb

  1. To give courage.
  2. To give strength; to supply energy or vigour.
  3. To perform a neurectomy on (someone or something).
  4. To get on (someone’s) nerves; to annoy, irritate, or bother (someone).
  5. To be nervous.

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.