nerve-tissue 
sivr of the requisite sustentacular and vascubir 
parts. It includes the nerve-fibers and the 
ganglion*cells. 
nerve-track (nenr'tnk), 11. Any path of nerve- 
fibers, but especially in the cerebrospinal axis, 
along which nervous impulses travel. 
nerve-tube (nerv'tub), n. If. A nerve-fiber. 
Hoblyn. 2. A hollow cord of nervous or em- 
bryonic nervous tissue, as the spinal cord of 
a vertebrate embryo. 
The Craniates' ancestor had a dorsal median nerve, which 
has increased in size and importance so as to become the 
nerve-tube of existing forms. Jincyc. Brit., XXIV. 188. 
nerve-tuft (nerv'tuft), n. A minute plexus or 
network of nerve-fibers. Beale, Protoplasm, 
p. 267. 
nerve-tunic (nerv'tu"nik), n. An investiture 
by nerves or nervous tissue ; a plexus or rami- 
fied set of nerves inclosing the body or any 
part of it. 
An elongate animal, with a plexiform nerve-tunic. 
Uncyc. Brit., XXIV. 184. 
nerve-twig (nerv'twig), TO. One of the small 
or ultimate ramifications of a nerve ; a little 
nerve given off from a larger branch. 
nerve-wave (nerv'wav), . Wave-motion in a 
nerve, transmitting nerve-commotion in a man- 
ner analogous to the progress of a water wave. 
Compare brain-wave, 
Throughout the world the sum-total of motion is ever 
the same, but its distribution into heat-waves, light- 
waves, nerve-mates, etc., varies from moment to moment. 
J. Fish, N. A. Rev., CXXVI. 35. 
nerve-winged (nerv'wingd), a. In entom., hav- 
ing the nerves or nervures of the wings con- 
spicuous ; specifically, of or pertaining to the 
Neurontera; neuropterous. 
nerviduct (ner'vi-dukt), H. [< L. nervus, a 
nerve, + ductus, a duct.] An opening in a bone 
through which a nerve is conducted. Cones, 
1882. 
nerville (ner'vil), n. [< NL. "nervillus, dim. of 
L. nervus, nerve: see nerve."] In bot., a very 
fine nerve or vein traversing the parenchyma 
of a leaf. See nervation. 
nervimotion (ner'vi-mo-shon), n. [< L. ner- 
vus, a nerve, + motio(n-), motion: see motion.'] 
1. The reflex action of the nervous system; 
motion excited in nerves by external stimuli 
and reflected in muscular motion. Dutrochct. 
2. In lot., the power of self-motion in leaves. 
nervimotor (ner'vi-mo-tor), a. and n. [< L. 
nervus, a nerve, -I- motor, a mover: see motor.] 
1. a. Pertaining to or causing nervimotion. 
II. n. That which causes nervimotion. 
nervimuscular (ner-vi-mus'ku-lar), a. [< L. 
nervus, a nerve, + musculus, a muscle: see 
muscular.] Of or pertaining to both nerve and 
muscle; neuromyological. Cones, 1887. 
nervine (ner'vin). a. and n. [< L. nervinus, made 
of sinews or fibers, < nervus, a sinew, a fiber, a 
nerve: see nerve and -ine">-.] I. a. 1. Of or per- 
taining to the nerves. 2. Capable of quieting 
nervous excitement, or otherwise acting upon 
the nerves. 
II. n. A drug used in nervous diseases. 
nervose (ner'vos), a. [< L. nervosus, full of 
sinews or fibers, nervous: see nervous."] 1. 
In bot., same as nerved. 2. In zool., nerved, 
as an insect's wing; having nervature. 
nervosity (ner-vos'i-ti), n. [= F. nervosite = 
Pr. nervositat = Sp. nervosidad = Pg. nervosi- 
dadc = lt. nervosita, < L. nervosita(t-)s, strength, 
thickness, < ncrvosus, full of sinews, nervous, < 
nervus, nerve: see nerve."] 1. The quality of 
being nervous; nervousness. Worcester. 2. 
In bot., the state of being nerved. 
nervous (ner'vus), a. [= F. nerveux = Sp. Pg. 
It. nervoso, < L. nervosus, full of sinews or fibers, 
sinewy, nervous, vigorous, < nervus, sinew, 
nerve: see nerve.] 1. Full of nerves. 
We may easily imagine what acerbity of pain must be 
endured by our Lord ... by the piercing his hands and 
feet, parts very nervous, and exquisitely sensible. 
Barrow, Sermons, I. 32. (Latham.) 
2. Sinewy; strong; vigorous; well-strung. 
What nervous arms he boasts 1 how firm his tread ! 
His limbs how turn'd ! 
Broome, in Pope's Odyssey, viii. 147. 
3. Possessing or manifesting vigor of mind ; 
characterized by force or strength in sentiment 
or style: as, a nervous historian. 
The pleadings . . . were then short, nervous, and per- 
spicuous. Blackstone. 
Though it ("Arcadia"] contains some nervous and elegant 
passages, yet the plan of it is poor. 
Gi/ord, Note to B. Jonson's Every Man out of his 
[Humour, ii. 1. 
3972 
The style is sometimes clumsy and unwieldy, but ner- 
vous, masculine, and such as became a soldier. 
De Quincey, Style, iii. 
4. Of or pertaining to the nerves ; seated in or 
affecting some part of the nervous system: as, 
neshen 
of a rib which forms one of the sides of a com- 
partment of the groining. (6) A projecting 
molding, particularly if small and acute-angled 
in profile. Also called ncrre. 2. In bot., a vein 
or nerve of a leaf. 3. In nntom., one of the 
a nervous disease; a nervous impulse; a ner- tubes Ol . tubular thickenings which ramify in 
action. 5. Having the nerves affected; an inseet . s wing . a , lerve) 6 ve in, or costa pro- 
ceeding along one of certain definite lines, to 
strengthen the wing and, through a central hol- 
low, to nourish it. The wing is developed as a sac- 
like projection of the body-wall, and is hence composed of 
two closely applied membranes. The nervures are ex- 
actly apposed thickenings of the dorsal and ventral mem- 
branes. In most insects a groove extends along the inner 
surface of the thickening of each wall, forming a tube in 
the center of each nervure within which the fluids of the 
body circulate. The larger ones also contain tracheae. The 
number of these nervures is greatest and their arrange- 
ment is most complicated in some of the Orthnptera and 
Neuroptera, while they are almost entirely wanting in some 
of the small Hymenoptera. The nervures furnish impor- 
tant zoological characters. See cut in preceding column. 
Coronate, cross, dlscoldal, externomedian, inter- 
uomedian, marginal, etc. , nervure. See the adjectives. 
- Inner apical nervure. See inner. 
; easily agitated 
or excited; weak; timid. 
Poor, weak, nervous creatures. Cheyne. 
Some of Johnson's whims on literary subjects can be 
compared only to that strange nervous feeling which made 
him uneasy if he had not touched every post between the 
Mitre tavern and his own lodgings. 
Macaulay, Boswell's Johnson. 
Seneca himself was constitutionally a nervous and timid 
man, endeavouring, not always with success, to support 
himself by a sublime philosophy. 
Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 204. 
6f. In bot., same as nerved Nervous center. See 
nerve-center. Nervous deafness, deafness. from disease 
of the auditory nerve or brain-centers. Nervous fever. 
See feveri. Nervous fluid, the fluid formerly supposed 
to circulate through the nerves, and regarded as the agent 
of sensation and motion. Nervous headache, headache nerVUS (ner'vus), n. ; pi. nervi (-vi). [L. nervus : 
with nervous irritability; megrim. Nervous impulse. <. PP iipnw ~\ Tn nnnt nnd vnnl a norvo 
See impulse.- Nervous prostration, weakness or de- Jl r ",'><. V 1 m \ , ani --> nerve. 
pression due to the want ofnervous power ; neurasthenia. Hervy (ner vi), a. [<. nerve + -(/'.] 1. Vigor- 
Nervous substance, the substance of which the essen- ous; sinewy; strong, as if well-nerved or full 
tial part of a nerve or a ganglion cell and its processes is 
composed. Nervous system, the nerve-centers with the 
peripheral nerves and organs of sense. The function of 
this system is to direct the functions of active organs, 
muscular and epithelial, in response to the varying states 
of the body, its several parts and its environment, in such 
manner as shall conduce to life and health and the bearing 
and raising of healthy offspring. Whether the nervous 
system has a direct trophic influence on passive tissues, 
protective or sustentacular, is undetermined. StomatO- 
gastric nervous system. See stomatogadric. Sympa- 
thetic nervous system. See sympathetic. = Syn. 3. 
Forcible. 5, Timorous, excitable, high-strung. 
of nervous force. 
Death, that dark spirit, In 's nervt/ arm doth lie. 
' Shale., Cor., ii. 1. 177. 
Between 
His nervy knees there lay a boar-spear keen. 
Keats, Endymion, i. 
2. Courageous ; having or exhibiting fortitude 
or nerve. 
Yonder brisk and sinewy fellow has taken one short, 
nervy step into the ring, chanting with rising energy. 
O. W. Cable, The Century, XX.XI. 523. 
He [Marston] thus nervously describes 
custom. T. Warton, Hist. Er 
(6) With weak ness or agitation of thenerves; withrestless 
agitation. 
Rendered nervously cautious and anxious by so many 
successive losses. Scott. 
nervousness (ner'vus -nes), n. The state or 
quality of being nervous, (o) The state of being 
composed of nerves. (&) Strength ; force ; vigor. 
If there had been epithets joined with the other substan- 
tives, it would have weakened the nervousness of the sen- 
tence. J. Warton, Essay on Pope. 
nervously (ner'vus-li), a*. In a nervous man- Ne8ea (ng ^ a) n . p^ (Commerson, 1789),' 
ner. ,) With strength or v,gor. < L . jf eg ; ee <*&. N ^u t v he name of a ge 
" SB the strength of nymph or Nereid, fern, of vnaalos, of an island, 
47 - < vijaos, an island.] A genus of polypetalous 
plants of the order Lytlirariece and the tribe 
LytJirece, known by the three- to six-celled cap- 
sule wholly concealed within the calyx. There 
are 27 species, leafy erect herbs or shrubs, with four- 
angled branches and purplish or bluish flowers, natives of 
warmer Asia, Africa, Australia, and America, with one, N. 
vertwillata, in the United States, a conspicuous inhabitant 
of shallow waters, with opposite or whorled leaves and 
long arching tufted stems, enormously thickened below, 
with remarkable white spongy and floccose tissue (aeren- 
chyma). This species is called swamp-loosestr\fe. See 
hanchinol and Heimia. 
(c) Morbid psychical irritability ; unsteadiness of nervous .. 
control ; a state of despondency consequent on an affection nescience (nesh'iens), n. [= F. nescience = Sp. 
Pg. nesciencia =lt. nescienza,< LL. neseientia, 
If we mistake not, moreover, a certain quality of nervous- ienorance < L neirien(t-)x ignorant- SPO 
ness had become more or less manifest, even in so solid a V mt ' en(i-)S, Ig 
specimen of Puritan descent as the gentleman now under Clen t-] i he State ot not knowing ; lack of know- 
discussion. Haicthorne, Seven Gables, viii. ledge ; ignorance. 
nervular (ner'vu-lar),. [< nervule + -ar 3 .] In The ignorance and involuntary nescience of men. 
entom. , pertaining'to, on, or near the nervures Jer - Taylor ' Works < ed - 1835 >> L 80 - 
of an insect's wing: as, nervular dots, lines, etc. nescient (nesh'ient), a. [= OF. nescient, < L. 
nervule (ner'vul), n. [= F. nervule, < L. nervu- nescien(t-)s, ppr."of nescire, be ignorant, know 
lus, dim. of nervus, a nerve : see nerve.] A small n t, < ne, not, + scire, know : see science.] Des- 
nerve; specifically, in entom., a small nervure titute of knowledge; ignorant; characterized 
or vein of the wing, emitted by a larger one or by r exhibiting nescience. Coles, 1717. 
connecting two other nervures. Also called nescious (nesh'ius), a. [< L. nescius, igno- 
ncrvulet, veinlet, vemtle, or branch. rant.] Same as nescient. 
nervulet (ner'vu-let), . [< nervule + -let.] In He that understands our thoughts . . . cannot be nes- 
entom., same as nervule. Coronate nervulet. See <**" of our works. Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 171. 
corc " late - nescockt, n. See nestcock. 
Nervures or Venation of Wings in Insects. 
a, Coleoptera : common chafer (Mflolotttha vulffaris); b, Eu- 
plexopttra: earwig (Forjicula atiricularisY, c. .\'ettropfera: drag- 
-"-a maculatissimai); rf, I.tpiitoptfra: butterfly (Par- 
') ! f, Diptern: a fly (Kibio marcfl. 
on-8y (/* 
nesch, nes, soft, wet, = Goth, hnaslcmis, soft, ten- 
der. Cf. nask, nasky, nasty.] If. Soft; tender. 
I was fader of his flesch, 
His Moder hedde an herte nesch. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 143. 
Take wylde tansey, and grynde yt, and make yt neshe, & 
ley it therto. Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 36. 
It semeth for love his harte is tender nessh. 
Court o/ Love, 1. 1092. 
2t. Delicate; weak; poor-spirited. 
Synne was harde, hys blood was nessche, 
To def ende folk fro feendys wode. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.X p. 217. 
3. Soft; friable; crumbly. [Prov. Eng.] For 
hard or for nesht, In hard' or in nesht, come weal, 
come woe ; in good fortune or bad. 
In nesse, in hard, y pray the nowe, 
In al stedes thou him avowe. 
Arthour and Merlin, p. 110. (Hattimll.) 
nesht (nesh), v. t. [< nesh, a.] To make soft, 
tender, or weak. 
}fesh not youi womb [stomach] by drinking immoder- 
ately. 
Ashmole, Theatrum Chemicurn (1652), p. 113. (Latlnnn.) 
neshen (nesh'n), c. t. [< nesh + -en 1 .] 
tender, ffaniwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
