nerves

«nerves» in Mova's school dictionary: thin fibres in your body that carry messages between your… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (nerves — plural of nerve)

meaning for a pupil

1) Nerves are thin fibres in your body that carry messages between your brain and other parts of your body, so you can feel and move. tree →

2) Nerves (informal) means the worried, nervous feeling you get before something important, like a test or a show. tree →

3) Nerves can mean courage to stay calm in a hard moment, as in «nerves of steel». tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, the nervous system is made of the brain, the spinal cord and nerves; nerves carry signals for touch, pain, heat and movement — that is how you quickly pull your hand away from something hot. In feelings lessons, having nerves (butterflies in your tummy) before a performance or test is normal, and deep breathing helps. Phrases: «a bag of nerves», «get on someone's nerves» (annoy them), «nerves of steel», «first-night nerves», «calm your nerves», «lose your nerve».

examples

• Nerves carry messages from your skin to your brain. tree →
• The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves. tree →
• I always get nerves before a test. tree →
• Deep breaths help calm your nerves. tree →
• His loud chewing gets on my nerves. tree →
• The goalkeeper had nerves of steel. tree →
• She was a bag of nerves before the concert. tree →
• When you touch something hot, your nerves send a signal very fast. tree →

note

Plural of «nerve». Adjective: nervous. «Have the nerve to» can mean be brave, or be rude and cheeky. «Get on my nerves» means annoy me, not hurt my real nerves.

In the corpora

• Nerves make breath short and the voice shaky, even in good singers; slow breathing before singing helps calm the voice.
• Ants and nettles inject formic acid and other chemicals that irritate the nerves in your skin.
• Nerves are normal, even for adults, and practice, a slow breath and a smile help most.
• "Trouble with her nerves" is an old-fashioned way of saying anxiety or mental illness.
• An arm keeps swelling for a day or two after a break, and a tight cast can squeeze blood vessels and nerves.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «nerves» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.