nerve 1 S3 W3 / nɜv $ nɜrv / 名词

1 worried feelings nerves [复数形式]

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 [可数名词] 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 [不可数名词] 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 [单数形式] 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 同义词 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

动词

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.

短语

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

动词

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.

短语

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.