nervy

English

Etymology

nerve +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɜː.vi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɝ.vi/

Adjective

nervy (comparative nervier, superlative nerviest)

1. (US) Having nerve; bold; brazen.
   • 1988 April, David Gans, “Ted Nelson And The Ultimate Information Machine”, in MicroTimes, page 55:

     It takes a nervy man to promulgate such stuff, and Ted Nelson has made a career out of being nervy.

2. (British) Feeling nervous, anxious or agitated.
   • 2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in the Telegraph‎^[1]:

     Blackpool continue to thrive on the adrenalin rush of the end-of-season shoot-out and are heading for a second Wembley date in two years after negotiating a nervy path past Birmingham.

3. (archaic) Strong; sinewy.
   • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 1:

     And, for those simple times, his garments were / A chieftain-king's: beneath his breast, half bare, / Was hung a silver bugle, and between / His nervy knees there lay a boar-spear keen […]

4. (technical) jittery; having unwanted signal characteristics.

Derived terms

• nervily
• nerviness

Related terms

• nervous

Translations

bold

• Bulgarian: смел (bg) (smel), самоуверен (bg) (samouveren)
• Czech: suverénní, troufalý (cs)
• Russian: бо́рзый (ru) m (bórzyj) (slang), де́рзкий (ru) m (dérzkij)

nervous

• Bulgarian: нервен (bg) (nerven), неспокоен (bg) (nespokoen)
• Czech: nervózní, vynervovaný
• Scottish Gaelic: nearbhach