nervy

comparative nervier · superlative nerviest

1. USHaving nerve; bold; brazen.

   It takes a nervy man to promulgate such stuff, and Ted Nelson has made a career out of being nervy.

   1988 April, David Gans, “Ted Nelson And The Ultimate Information Machine”, in MicroTimes, page 55

2. UKFeeling nervous, anxious or agitated.

   Blackpool continue to thrive on the adrenalin rush of the end-of-season shoot-out and are heading for a second Wembley date in two years after negotiating a nervy path past Birmingham.

   2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in The Telegraph

   1 more example

   She has been asked on a date to see The Barber of Seville in the company of society’s wealthiest and most eligible bachelor, the Hon Jeremy Malcolm (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) who is bored by her nervy and untutored chatter.

   2022 August 24, Peter Bradshaw, “Mr Malcolm’s List review – Regency romcom served with cake-icing of irony”, in The Guardian

3. archaicStrong; sinewy.

   And, for those simple times, his garments were / A chieftain-king's: beneath his breast, half bare, / Was hung a silver bugle, and between / His nervy knees there lay a boar-spear keen […]

   1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 1

4. engineeringJittery; having unwanted signal characteristics.