nerve (redirected from strained every nerve)

a battle/war of nerves

a situation in which two competing groups of people try to defeat each other by frightening and threatening each other without taking action. This has become a battle of nerves with neither side seeming willing to back down.

See also: battle, war

be a bundle of nerves (British, American & Australian, informal, British, informal)

to be very nervous. You should have seen me before the interview. I was a bundle of nerves.

See also: bundle

get/grate on someone's nerves (informal)

to annoy someone, especially by doing something again and again. If we spend too much time together we end up getting on each other's nerves. The telephone hadn't stopped ringing all morning and it was starting to grate on my nerves.

hit/touch a (raw) nerve

to upset someone by talking about a particular subject. I think I hit a nerve with my comments about divorce. She suddenly looked distressed and I knew I'd touched a raw nerve.

See also: hit, touch

live on your nerves (British & Australian)

to always be very anxious. She doesn't sleep or eat well. I get the feeling she's really living on her nerves.

See also: live

nerves of steel

if someone has nerves of steel, they are very brave. You'd have to have nerves of steel to play in front of a crowd this size.

See also: steel

strain every nerve

to try extremely hard to do something. I was straining every nerve to catch what they were saying but they were sitting just a bit too far away from me.

See also: every, strain

---

get on your nerves

to annoy someone a lot. Sometimes watching TV really gets on my nerves because of all the commercials.

lose your nerve

to fear doing something. Jim lost his nerve and wouldn't try to ski down the hill.

See also: lose

touch a (raw) nerve

to cause an emotional reaction. This film touched a nerve with many people who were already feeling very uneasy about the state of the world. Any talk of raising the cost of college tuition hits a raw nerve with students.

See also: touch