bundle of nerves

plural bundles of nerves

1. idiomaticA person with an especially nervous, excitable, or fearful disposition.

   She is a jittery bundle of nerves rather than the tough stoic she ought to be.

   1972 March 27, “Sudsy Whiff of Humanity”, in Time

   1 more example

   Being in point of fact a complete bundle of nerves and nothing else, his thin figure shook like a harp-string in painful excitement at a contretemps which would scarcely have quickened the pulse of an ordinary man.

   1895, Thomas Hardy, chapter 22, in The Hand of Ethelberta

   Synonyms: bag of nerves, worrywart, coward

2. datedidiomaticA lively, continually active person.

   He found Pesita pacing back and forth before his tent—an energetic bundle of nerves which no amount of hard riding and fighting could tire or discourage.

   1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 8, in The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC

   1 more example

   "Come and take lunch with me." The speaker was a walking, talking bundle of nerves, clothed in black broadcloth. A flawless diamond sparkled on the scarlet scarf that peeped above his close-fitting Prince Albert coat, and a pair of roguish eyes danced above two rosy cheeks.

   1883 November 5, “Talk Across the Table”, in New York Times, retrieved 15 Apr 2009, page 4

   Synonyms: bundle of energy