nerving 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

   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