nerve up

Verb

nerve up (third-person singular simple present nerves up, present participle nerving up, simple past and past participle nerved up)

1. (transitive) To make anxious.
   • was that why you hit him with the hammer because you were nerved up?1899, In the Court of Appeals of the State of New York: The People of the State of New York Versus John Schmidt, page 716
2. (transitive) Synonym of nerve (“to give courage or strength; to supply energy or vigour”).
   • Man’s wrath He will restrain: and this faith is needed in times of persecution, such as the church was passing through, and such as these Hebrew believers must soon experience in all its bitterness. Thus he nerves them up for the dread conflict. What has he to fear who fights the good fight of...1873, George Junkin, chapter XIII, in A Commentary upon the Epistle to the Hebrews, Philadelphia, Pa.: Smith, English & Co., […]; New York, N.Y.: Robert Carter & Bros., →OCLC, page 494
   • Their influence goes far to nerve up the men to a constant fighting pitch, and no officer is tolerated away from his command unless sick or wounded.1863 November 14, “A Northern Lady at the South”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2025

   Synonyms:

   nerve

3. (intransitive) To get courage or strength.
   • I was still trying to nerve up to tell my dad I wasn’t going to Mass on Sunday anymore.1992, Patricia Hampl, “Silence”, in Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 199
   • Like the flyways of rattled birds, America’s concourses were constantly crisscrossed with Baby Boomers trying to nerve up for the waiting bedside consultation, the nursing home decision, the choosing of a casket.1999, Ivan Doig, “The Springs”, in Mountain Time: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Paperback Fiction, published 2000, →ISBN, section 3, page 137