Word.ws English Dictionary

straining every nerve

straining every nerve is the present participle and gerund of strain every nerve.

Meaning of strain every nerve

Verb

strain every nerve (third-person singular simple present strains every nerve, present participle straining every nerve, simple past and past participle strained every nerve)

  1. To make every possible effort to do something; to do one's utmost.
    • In this very great emergency one might have expected the Western Region, notwithstanding the considerable difficulties involved in finding paths for a greatly increased Paddington-Wolverhampton train service, to strain every nerve to keep passengers in the trains rather than letting them stray away...1960 March, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 174

Questions about straining every nerve

What is straining every nerve the present participle and gerund of?
Straining every nerve is the present participle and gerund of strain every nerve.

Words near straining every nerve in the dictionary

  1. straining at a gnat
  2. straining at the leash
  3. straining beam
  4. straining beams
  5. straining courtesy
  6. straining every nerve
  7. straining piece
  8. straining pieces
  9. straining the potatoes
  10. strainingly
  11. strainings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: straining every nerve (page history and authors); strain every nerve (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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