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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Nervous \Nerv"ous\ (n[~e]rv"[u^]s), adjective [L. nervosus sinewy, vigorous: cf. F. nerveux. See {Nerve}.]
1. Possessing nerve; sinewy; strong; vigorous. ''Nervous arms.'' --Pope.
2. Possessing or manifesting vigor of mind; characterized by strength in sentiment or style; forcible; spirited; as, a nervous writer.
3. Of or pertaining to the nerves; seated in the nerves; as, nervous excitement; a nervous fever.
4. Having the nerves weak, diseased, or easily excited; subject to, or suffering from, undue excitement of the nerves; easily agitated or annoyed.
Poor, weak, nervous creatures. --Cheyne.
5. Sensitive; excitable; timid.
6. Apprehensive; as, a child nervous about his mother's reaction to his bad report card. [PJC]
Our aristocratic class does not firmly protest against the unfair treatment of Irish Catholics, because it is nervous about the land. --M. Arnold.
{Nervous fever} (Med.), a low form of fever characterized by great disturbance of the nervous system, as evinced by delirium, or stupor, disordered sensibility, etc.
{Nervous system} (Anat.), the specialized co["o]rdinating apparatus which endows animals with sensation and volition. In vertebrates it is often divided into three systems: the central, brain and spinal cord; the peripheral, cranial and spinal nerves; and the sympathetic. See {Brain}, {Nerve}, {Spinal cord}, under {Spinal}, and {Sympathetic system}, under {Sympathetic}, and Illust. in Appendix.
{Nervous temperament}, a condition of body characterized by a general predominance of mental manifestations. --Mayne.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
nervous
adjective
1: easily agitated; "quick nervous movements"
2: causing or fraught with or showing anxiety; "spent an anxious night waiting for the test results"; "cast anxious glances behind her"; "those nervous moments before takeoff"; "an unquiet mind" [syn: {anxious}, {uneasy}, {unquiet}]
3: of or relating to the nervous system; "nervous disease"; "neural disorder" [syn: {neural}]
4: excited in anticipation [syn: {aflutter}]
5: unpredictably excitable (especially of horses) [syn: {skittish}, {spooky}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
168 Moby Thesaurus words for "nervous": acid, agitable, agitated, all nerves, all-overish, allergic, anaphylactic, anxious, anxioused up, apprehensive, bashful, biting, bothered, concerned, corrosive, cowardly, critical, cutting, delicate, difficult, diffident, discomposed, disquieted, distressed, disturbed, driving, edgy, effective, emotional, emotionally unstable, empathetic, empathic, eruptive, excitable, excited, explosive, fearful, fearing, fearsome, feverish, fidgety, flurried, flustered, forceful, forcible, foreboding, fretful, frightened, goosey, goosy, gutsy, high-mettled, high-spirited, high-strung, highly emotional, hyperesthetic, hyperpathic, hypersensitive, imperative, impressive, in a dither, in a pucker, in a stew, in a sweat, in a tizzy, in fear, incisive, inflammable, irascible, irritable, itchy, jittery, jumpy, mettlesome, misgiving, mordant, mousy, nerval, nerves on edge, nervy, neural, neurological, on edge, on tenterhooks, overanxious, overapprehensive, overrefined, oversensible, oversensitive, overstrung, overtender, panicky, passible, penetrating, perturbable, perturbed, piercing, poignant, powerful, prickly, punchy, querulous, rabbity, refined, responsive, restless, ruffled, scared, scary, sensational, sensitive, shaken, shaken up, shaky, shivery, shrinking, shy, sinewed, sinewy, skittery, skittish, slashing, snappish, solicitous, spooky, startlish, stirred up, strained, striking, strong, strung out, supersensitive, suspenseful, sympathetic, tactful, telling, tender, tense, tetchy, thin-skinned, ticklish, timid, timorous, touchy, trembling, tremulous, trenchant, trepidant, trigger-happy, troubled, troublous, turbulent, twittery, uneasy, unpeaceful, unquiet, unrestful, upset, uptight, vigorous, vital, volatile, volcanic, waspish, worked up, worried, wrought up, zealous
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