nervosity (nervositi)

[= F. nervosité = Pr. nervositat = Sp. nervosidad = Pg. nervosi dade = It. nervosità, nervous (ner'vus), a. [= F. nerveux = Sp. Pg. It. nervoso, We may easily imagine what acerbity of pain must be endured by our Lord by the piercing his hands and feet, parts very nervous, and exquisitely sensible. Barrow , Sermons, I. 32. (Latham.) 2. Sinewy; strong; vigorous; well-strung. What nervous arms he boasts! how firm his tread! His limbs how turn'd! Broome , in Pope's Ody ey, viii. 147. 3. Po e ing or manifesting vigor of mind; characterized by force or strength in sentiment or style: as, a nervous historian. The pleadings... were then short, nervous , and perspicuous. Black stone . Though it ["Arcadia") contains some nervous and elegant pa ages, yet the plan of it is poor. Gifford, Note to B. Jonson's Every Man out of his [Humour, ii. 1. IMG:content-1316.png:[blocks in formation] 6t. In bot., same as nerved. - Nervous center. See nerve-center.- Nervous deafne , deafne from disease of the auditory nerve or brain-centers.- Nervous fever. See fever1.-Nervous fluid, the fluid formerly supposed to circulate through the nerves, and regarded as the agent of sensation and motion. - Nervous headache, headache with nervous irritability; megrim. - Nervous impulse. See impulse.- Nervous prostration, weakne or depre ion due to the want of nervous power; neurasthenia, - Nervous substance, the substance of which the e ential part of a nerve or a ganglion-cell and its proce es is composed.-Nervous system, the nerve-centers with the peripheral nerves and organs of sense. The function of this system is to direct the functions of active organs, muscular and epithelial, in response to the varying states of the body, its several parts and its environment, in such manner as shall conduce to life and health and the bearing and raising of healthy offspring. Whether the nervous system has a direct trophic influence on pa ive ti ues, protective or sustentacular, is undetermined. - Stomatogastric nervous system. See stomatogastric. - Sympathetic nervous system. See sympathetic. = Syn. 3. nervously (nėr'vus-li), adv. In a nervous man Forcible.-5. Timorous, excitable, high-strung. ner. (a) With strength or vigor. He [Marston] thus nervously describes the strength of T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, IV. 47. custom. IMG:content-1317.png:[blocks in formation] (c) Morbid psychical irritability; unsteadine of nervous control; a state of despondency consequent on an affection of the nerves. If we mistake not, moreover, a certain quality of nervous ne had become more or le manifest, even in so solid a specimen of Puritan descent as the gentleman now under discu ion. Hawthorne , Seven Gables, viii. nervular (nervū-lär), a. [ entom ., pertaining to, on, or near the nervures of an insect's wing: as, nervular dots, lines, etc. nervule (ner'vül), n. [F. nervule , lus , dim. of nervus , a nerve: see nerve .] A small nerve; specifically, in entom . , a small nervure or vein of the wing, emitted by a larger one or connecting two other nervures. Also called nervulet, veinlet , venule , or branch . nervulet (nėr'vū-let), n. [ entom ., same as nervule . - Coronate nervulet. See coronate. In neshen of a rib which forms one of the sides of a compartment of the groining. ( b ) A projecting molding, particularly if small and acute-angled in profile. Also called nerve. -2. In bot., a vein or nerve of a leaf.-3. In entom., one of the tubes or tubular thickenings which ramify in an insect's wing; a nerve, vein, or costa proceeding along one of certain definite lines, to strengthen the wing and, through a central hollow, to nourish it. The wing is developed as a saclike projection of the body-wall, and is hence composed of two closely applied membranes. The nervures are exactly apposed thickenings of the dorsal and ventral membranes. In most insects a groove extends along the inner surface of the thickening of each wall, forming a tube in the center of each nervure within which the fluids of the body circulate. The larger ones also contain tracheæ. The number of these nervures is greatest and their arrangement is most complicated in some of the Orthoptera and Neuroptera, while they are almost entirely wanting in some of the small Hymenoptera. The nervures furnish important zoological characters. See cut in preceding column. - Coronate, cro , discoidal, externomedian, inter no median, marginal, etc., nervure. See the adjectives. Inner apical nervure. See inner. nervus (nèr'vus), n.; pl. nervi (-vi). [L. nervus : see nerve .] In an at . and zoöl . , a nerve. nervy (ner'vi), a. [ Death, that dark spirit, in's nervy arm doth lie. Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 177. Between His nervy knees there lay a boar-spear keen. Keats , Endymion, i. 2. Courageous; having or exhibiting fortitude or nerve. Yonder brisk and sinewy fellow has taken one short, nervy step into the ring, chanting with rising energy. G. W. Cable, The Century, XXXI. 523.