nerve up

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.
   • 1899, In the Court of Appeals of the State of New York: The People of the State of New York Versus John Schmidt‎^[1], page 716:

     was that why you hit him with the hammer because you were nerved up?

2. (transitive) Synonym of nerve (“to give courage or strength; to supply energy or vigour”).
   • 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:

     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 faith under the banner of his glorious Captain?

   • 1863 November 14, “A Northern Lady at the South”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 August 2025:

     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.

   • 2021 March 29, Ian Frazier, “Fighting America’s Gun Plague”, in The New Yorker‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 March 2021:

     To stand up in front of the large crowd and the TV cameras and ask his question had required some nerving up. Afterward, he said he felt as if he were on top of the world.

3. (intransitive) To get courage or strength.
   • 1992, Patricia Hampl, “Silence”, in Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 199:

     I was still trying to nerve up to tell my dad I wasn’t going to Mass on Sunday anymore.

   • 1999, Ivan Doig, “The Springs”, in Mountain Time: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Paperback Fiction, published 2000, →ISBN, section 3, page 137:

     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.

   • 2015, Elizabeth Lowell [pseudonym; Ann Maxwell], chapter 24, in Perfect Touch, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow, →ISBN, page 290:

     He looked at her face. It was grim and set, a person nerving up for the last of a grueling hike.