nervelessadj.

Brit.

/ˈnəːvləs/, U.S.

/ˈnərvləs/

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: nerve n., -less suffix.

Etymology: < nerve n. + -less suffix.

a. Of a person: lacking courage or resolve; weak, incapable of effort. Also: †lacking sensation, lifeless (obsolete).

ΚΠ

1681 J. Crown Thyestes i. i. 3 Till revenge Crowns me, I am still depos'd, A Contemn'd, Artless, Nerveless, Spiritless Slave.

1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 41 There sunk Thalia, nerve-less, faint, and dead.

1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 687 Other concurrent causes have rendered them corrupt and nerveless.

a1828 T. Bewick Mem. (1975) xix. 168 She must not be surprized at becoming a nurse, to him and his nerveless puny offspring.

1885 Liverpool Daily Post 7 Mar. 4/6 A nerveless diplomatist who has only to be menaced and he will yield.

1949 K. Patchen Red Wine & Yellow Hair 27 You're such a nerveless, little whelp.

1999 New Yorker 18 Oct. 176/1 DeLay lost patience with a group of..female students—their playing was correct but nerveless—and called in a sports psychologist to give the students assertiveness training.

b. Of the body or its parts: lacking energy, weak, listless, limp. Also: †lacking sensation, lifeless (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > bodily weakness > [adjective]

wokec897

unstronga900

unmightyeOE

feeblec1175

strengthlessc1175

unwieldc1220

weaka1300

frailc1384

unwieldyc1386

unthendec1425

dissolutec1450

unsure?a1475

feyc1475

simple1477

unfirm1483

unsinewed?1541

wash1548

weakling1557

ladylike1566

silly1567

water weak1592

washya1631

wankle1686

foible1715

unmuscular1725

nerveless1792

wankly1795

shilpit1813

wankya1825

sinewless1829

weedy-looking1835

queachy1859

insubstantiala1861

paper-backed1888

weak-fleshed1967

1701 C. Gildon Love's Victim v. i. 37 The Foe, you see, is but a Nerveless Limb.

1744 M. Akenside Pleasures Imagination i. 519 His keen tempestuous arm Hung nerveless.

1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. ii. 53 His high heroic spirit bleeds, And from his nerveless frame indignantly recedes.

1820 J. Keats Hyperion: a Fragm. i, in Lamia & Other Poems 146 His old right hand lay nerveless, listless, dead, Unsceptred.

1878 B. Taylor Prince Deukalion i. v. 43 He seems to slumber, head on nerveless knees.

1922 ‘R. Crompton’ Just—William iii. 74 Then the boy's nerveless hand relaxed its hold upon the balloon.

1975 Listener 6 Nov. 608/2 My fourth new stopwatch..fell..from my nerveless fingers.

1988 D. Lodge Nice Work i. i. 3 On retiring to bed Vic's last action is normally to detach a book from Marjorie's nerveless fingers.

a. Of an action, condition, etc.: characterized by lack of vigour or energy.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > [adjective] > lacking animation

deadOE

lifelessOE

unquickc1475

exanimate?c1550

flat1604

unsprighty1607

spiritless1609

dead-alive1617

fireless1647

uninformed1709

inanimate1713

unanimated1734

nerveless1735

inanimated1753

dispirited1758

dead and alive1863

unalive1905

pepless1909

zipless1922

soggy1928

undead1936

1735 J. Thomson Rome: 3rd Pt. Liberty 448 Sad o'er all, profound dejection sat, And nerveless fear.

a1758 J. Dyer Poet. Wks. (1855) 75 Toil only tastes the feast, by nerveless Ease Unrelish'd.

1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. i. 15 Sinking into nerveless rest.., incapable of advance or change.

1888 L. Spender Kept Secret III. viii. 136 A spiritless and nerveless life had been his.

1997 T. Hughes Tales from Ovid 127 Remove me From life and from death Into some nerveless limbo.

b. Of literary or artistic style: diffuse, insipid, lifeless.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > qualities of works generally

wateryc1230

polite?a1500

meagre1539

over-laboured1579

bald1589

spiritless1592

light1597

meretricious1633

standing1661

effectual1662

airy1664

severe1665

correct1676

enervatea1704

free1728

classic1743

academic1752

academical1752

chaste1753

nerveless1763

epic1769

crude1786

effective1790

creative1791

soulless1794

mannered1796

manneristical1830

manneristic1837

subjective1840

inartisticala1849

abstract1857

inartistic1859

literary1900

period1905

atmospheric1908

dateless1908

atmosphered1920

non-naturalistic1925

self-indulgent1926

free-styled1933

soft-centred1935

freestyle1938

pseudish1938

decadent1942

post-human1944

kitschy1946

faux-naïf1958

spare1965

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [adjective]

feeblec1400

colourlessc1425

flagging1540

pithless1555

blanched1570

toothless1592

unpointed1604

unsinewed1604

jejune1615

low-pitched1622

unsinewy?1623

macilent1624

flaccid1647

insinewy1653

unsubstanceda1658

incogent1667

pointless1673

languida1677

enervatea1704

unaccentuated1716

unnervate1725

lank1729

unforcible1754

nerveless1763

weak1771

flabby1793

slip-slop1814

tinkling1822

exsanguinea1834

twittery1840

slipshod1842

under-coloured1870

shaftless1881

thin1890

unaccented1893

wimpish1925

wimp1979

1763 W. Warburton Doctr. Grace I. i. ix The Western Eloquence..appeared nerveless and effeminate.

1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 12 719/1 Lord Byron retains the same nerveless and pointless kind of blank verse.

1899 Daily News 20 Feb. 8/4 His nerveless drawing, his awkwardness in the grouping.

1965 P. Hobsbaum in Wisconsin Stud. in Contemp. Lit. VI. 100 The whole attempt at modernism collapsed in the nerveless verse and chaotic imagery of the New Apocalypse.

a. Botany. Of a leaf, etc.: having no apparent veins or ribs.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > [adjective] > having or not having veins

venose?a1425

venous1626

nervous1668

veiny1681

nervose1753

nerveless1783

veinless1783

nerved1793

nervated1802

trinerved1811

trinervate1813

venulose1821

penninerved1849

penniveined1855

parallelinervate1857

parallelivenous1857

penninervate1857

net-veined1860

basinerved1866

nervate1866

obtectovenose1866

palm-veined1866

parallelinerved1866

parallelivenose1866

parallelinervous1893

pinninervate1893

the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective] > weak in character or will

nesheOE

feeblec1200

softc1275

weaka1425

infirm1526

lithya1533

unheaded1577

spiritless1595

pappy1597

irresolute1600

marrowless1607

seducible1613

wax-nosedc1615

unsinewy?1623

reedy1628

swayable1642

short-spirited1647

weak-headed1654

lath-backed1676

will-less?1680

tiffany-trader1702

weak-minded1716

lax1751

lax-fibred1762

nerveless1783

wishy-washy1801

marcid1822

molluscous1836

boneless1848

weedy1849

putty-headed1857

flabby1862

weak-kneed1863

fibreless1864

invertebrate1867

chinless1881

backboneless1882

featherweight1885

spineless1885

weak-willed1885

totter-kneed1887

akratic1896

effete1905

weakling1906

gutless1915

willowish1919

Milquetoast1932

nannified1960

ball-less1967

1783 Syst. Veg. I. xxii Nerveless, (enerve) opposed to nerved.

1783 Syst. Veg. I. 52 Canna... Leaves lanced petioled nerveless.

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 881 Leaves nerveless, cloven, points acute.

1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 329 Euphorbia paralias:..leaves..nerveless.

1908 B. L. Robinson & M. L. Fernald Gray's New Man. Bot. (ed. 7) 222 C. stellulata... Perygynia finally yellowish,..faintly nerved or nerveless on the inner face.

1981 E. V. Watson Brit. Mosses & Liverworts (ed. 3) 337 Under the microscope the leaf is seen to be practically nerveless.

†b. Entomology. Of a wing: lacking veins or nervures. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > parts of insects > [adjective] > of wing(s) > of or relating to nervure > having no nervures

nerveless1841

1841 E. Newman Familiar Introd. Hist. Insects iv. vi. 271 The fore and hind wings are alike,..generally nerveless.

c. Chiefly Anatomy and Zoology. Not provided or supplied with nerves.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > nervous system > nerve > [adjective] > having no

nerveless1862

1862 Year-bk. Med. 1861 (New Sydenham Soc.) 18 The nerveless spots of the..muscle.

1880 H. C. Bastian Brain 9 The nerveless Amœba.

1885 G. J. Romanes Jelly-fish i. 25 A stimulus applied to a nerveless muscle..giving rise to a visible wave of contraction, which spreads in all directions.

1986 G. Chesbro Veil (1987) ii. 4 Thick, unruly brown hair was creased by a scar that radiated to his right temple from the lacy mapwork of nerveless, ruined tissue that covered his right cheek.

4. Not nervous; bold, confident, brazen; unflinching in the face of risk.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > courage > fearlessness > [adjective]

unfrighta1325

fearlessa1400

unafraid1423

unaghasta1510

unfearful1544

unafeard1568

unaffrighted1590

unterrified1595

unamazed1598

frightless1606

unfrighted1611

dauntlessa1616

undauntless1654

intremendous1659

unfrightened1675

unscared1743

unfearing1796

sans peur1812

well-plucked1824

unfrightful1837

impavid1857

tremorless1869

nerveless1959

1959 Observer 1 Mar. 10/2 Princie is a ‘goer’, nerveless and brave, say the other members of the team.

1977 Washington Post 12 Mar. c1/1 Yong Bean was nerveless for a chap with only one year's experience on the tour under his belt.

1989 N.Y. Times 9 Oct. c9/6 The victory [was]..cemented on Dahlen's second goal of the game and John Vanbiesbrouck's nerveless goaltending down the stretch.

1995 New Yorker 27 Mar. 81/1 She dispatches the most demanding variations with cool science, a high, soft line, and an apparently nerveless lack of restraint.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	nerveless
释义	nervelessadj. Brit. /ˈnəːvləs/, U.S. /ˈnərvləs/ Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: nerve n., -less suffix. Etymology: < nerve n. + -less suffix. 1. a. Of a person: lacking courage or resolve; weak, incapable of effort. Also: †lacking sensation, lifeless (obsolete). ΚΠ 1681 J. Crown Thyestes i. i. 3 Till revenge Crowns me, I am still depos'd, A Contemn'd, Artless, Nerveless, Spiritless Slave. 1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 41 There sunk Thalia, nerve-less, faint, and dead. 1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 687 Other concurrent causes have rendered them corrupt and nerveless. a1828 T. Bewick Mem. (1975) xix. 168 She must not be surprized at becoming a nurse, to him and his nerveless puny offspring. 1885 Liverpool Daily Post 7 Mar. 4/6 A nerveless diplomatist who has only to be menaced and he will yield. 1949 K. Patchen Red Wine & Yellow Hair 27 You're such a nerveless, little whelp. 1999 New Yorker 18 Oct. 176/1 DeLay lost patience with a group of..female students—their playing was correct but nerveless—and called in a sports psychologist to give the students assertiveness training. b. Of the body or its parts: lacking energy, weak, listless, limp. Also: †lacking sensation, lifeless (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > bodily weakness > [adjective] wokec897 unstronga900 unmightyeOE feeblec1175 strengthlessc1175 unwieldc1220 weaka1300 frailc1384 unwieldyc1386 unthendec1425 dissolutec1450 unsure?a1475 feyc1475 simple1477 unfirm1483 unsinewed?1541 wash1548 weakling1557 ladylike1566 silly1567 water weak1592 washya1631 wankle1686 foible1715 unmuscular1725 nerveless1792 wankly1795 shilpit1813 wankya1825 sinewless1829 weedy-looking1835 queachy1859 insubstantiala1861 paper-backed1888 weak-fleshed1967 1701 C. Gildon Love's Victim v. i. 37 The Foe, you see, is but a Nerveless Limb. 1744 M. Akenside Pleasures Imagination i. 519 His keen tempestuous arm Hung nerveless. 1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. ii. 53 His high heroic spirit bleeds, And from his nerveless frame indignantly recedes. 1820 J. Keats Hyperion: a Fragm. i, in Lamia & Other Poems 146 His old right hand lay nerveless, listless, dead, Unsceptred. 1878 B. Taylor Prince Deukalion i. v. 43 He seems to slumber, head on nerveless knees. 1922 ‘R. Crompton’ Just—William iii. 74 Then the boy's nerveless hand relaxed its hold upon the balloon. 1975 Listener 6 Nov. 608/2 My fourth new stopwatch..fell..from my nerveless fingers. 1988 D. Lodge Nice Work i. i. 3 On retiring to bed Vic's last action is normally to detach a book from Marjorie's nerveless fingers. 2. a. Of an action, condition, etc.: characterized by lack of vigour or energy. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > [adjective] > lacking animation deadOE lifelessOE unquickc1475 exanimate?c1550 flat1604 unsprighty1607 spiritless1609 dead-alive1617 fireless1647 uninformed1709 inanimate1713 unanimated1734 nerveless1735 inanimated1753 dispirited1758 dead and alive1863 unalive1905 pepless1909 zipless1922 soggy1928 undead1936 1735 J. Thomson Rome: 3rd Pt. Liberty 448 Sad o'er all, profound dejection sat, And nerveless fear. a1758 J. Dyer Poet. Wks. (1855) 75 Toil only tastes the feast, by nerveless Ease Unrelish'd. 1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. i. 15 Sinking into nerveless rest.., incapable of advance or change. 1888 L. Spender Kept Secret III. viii. 136 A spiritless and nerveless life had been his. 1997 T. Hughes Tales from Ovid 127 Remove me From life and from death Into some nerveless limbo. b. Of literary or artistic style: diffuse, insipid, lifeless. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > qualities of works generally wateryc1230 polite?a1500 meagre1539 over-laboured1579 bald1589 spiritless1592 light1597 meretricious1633 standing1661 effectual1662 airy1664 severe1665 correct1676 enervatea1704 free1728 classic1743 academic1752 academical1752 chaste1753 nerveless1763 epic1769 crude1786 effective1790 creative1791 soulless1794 mannered1796 manneristical1830 manneristic1837 subjective1840 inartisticala1849 abstract1857 inartistic1859 literary1900 period1905 atmospheric1908 dateless1908 atmosphered1920 non-naturalistic1925 self-indulgent1926 free-styled1933 soft-centred1935 freestyle1938 pseudish1938 decadent1942 post-human1944 kitschy1946 faux-naïf1958 spare1965 society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [adjective] feeblec1400 colourlessc1425 flagging1540 pithless1555 blanched1570 toothless1592 unpointed1604 unsinewed1604 jejune1615 low-pitched1622 unsinewy?1623 macilent1624 flaccid1647 insinewy1653 unsubstanceda1658 incogent1667 pointless1673 languida1677 enervatea1704 unaccentuated1716 unnervate1725 lank1729 unforcible1754 nerveless1763 weak1771 flabby1793 slip-slop1814 tinkling1822 exsanguinea1834 twittery1840 slipshod1842 under-coloured1870 shaftless1881 thin1890 unaccented1893 wimpish1925 wimp1979 1763 W. Warburton Doctr. Grace I. i. ix The Western Eloquence..appeared nerveless and effeminate. 1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 12 719/1 Lord Byron retains the same nerveless and pointless kind of blank verse. 1899 Daily News 20 Feb. 8/4 His nerveless drawing, his awkwardness in the grouping. 1965 P. Hobsbaum in Wisconsin Stud. in Contemp. Lit. VI. 100 The whole attempt at modernism collapsed in the nerveless verse and chaotic imagery of the New Apocalypse. 3. a. Botany. Of a leaf, etc.: having no apparent veins or ribs. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > [adjective] > having or not having veins venose?a1425 venous1626 nervous1668 veiny1681 nervose1753 nerveless1783 veinless1783 nerved1793 nervated1802 trinerved1811 trinervate1813 venulose1821 penninerved1849 penniveined1855 parallelinervate1857 parallelivenous1857 penninervate1857 net-veined1860 basinerved1866 nervate1866 obtectovenose1866 palm-veined1866 parallelinerved1866 parallelivenose1866 parallelinervous1893 pinninervate1893 the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective] > weak in character or will nesheOE feeblec1200 softc1275 weaka1425 infirm1526 lithya1533 unheaded1577 spiritless1595 pappy1597 irresolute1600 marrowless1607 seducible1613 wax-nosedc1615 unsinewy?1623 reedy1628 swayable1642 short-spirited1647 weak-headed1654 lath-backed1676 will-less?1680 tiffany-trader1702 weak-minded1716 lax1751 lax-fibred1762 nerveless1783 wishy-washy1801 marcid1822 molluscous1836 boneless1848 weedy1849 putty-headed1857 flabby1862 weak-kneed1863 fibreless1864 invertebrate1867 chinless1881 backboneless1882 featherweight1885 spineless1885 weak-willed1885 totter-kneed1887 akratic1896 effete1905 weakling1906 gutless1915 willowish1919 Milquetoast1932 nannified1960 ball-less1967 1783 Syst. Veg. I. xxii Nerveless, (enerve) opposed to nerved. 1783 Syst. Veg. I. 52 Canna... Leaves lanced petioled nerveless. 1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 881 Leaves nerveless, cloven, points acute. 1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 329 Euphorbia paralias:..leaves..nerveless. 1908 B. L. Robinson & M. L. Fernald Gray's New Man. Bot. (ed. 7) 222 C. stellulata... Perygynia finally yellowish,..faintly nerved or nerveless on the inner face. 1981 E. V. Watson Brit. Mosses & Liverworts (ed. 3) 337 Under the microscope the leaf is seen to be practically nerveless. †b. Entomology. Of a wing: lacking veins or nervures. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > parts of insects > [adjective] > of wing(s) > of or relating to nervure > having no nervures nerveless1841 1841 E. Newman Familiar Introd. Hist. Insects iv. vi. 271 The fore and hind wings are alike,..generally nerveless. c. Chiefly Anatomy and Zoology. Not provided or supplied with nerves. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > nervous system > nerve > [adjective] > having no nerveless1862 1862 Year-bk. Med. 1861 (New Sydenham Soc.) 18 The nerveless spots of the..muscle. 1880 H. C. Bastian Brain 9 The nerveless Amœba. 1885 G. J. Romanes Jelly-fish i. 25 A stimulus applied to a nerveless muscle..giving rise to a visible wave of contraction, which spreads in all directions. 1986 G. Chesbro Veil (1987) ii. 4 Thick, unruly brown hair was creased by a scar that radiated to his right temple from the lacy mapwork of nerveless, ruined tissue that covered his right cheek. 4. Not nervous; bold, confident, brazen; unflinching in the face of risk. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > courage > fearlessness > [adjective] unfrighta1325 fearlessa1400 unafraid1423 unaghasta1510 unfearful1544 unafeard1568 unaffrighted1590 unterrified1595 unamazed1598 frightless1606 unfrighted1611 dauntlessa1616 undauntless1654 intremendous1659 unfrightened1675 unscared1743 unfearing1796 sans peur1812 well-plucked1824 unfrightful1837 impavid1857 tremorless1869 nerveless1959 1959 Observer 1 Mar. 10/2 Princie is a ‘goer’, nerveless and brave, say the other members of the team. 1977 Washington Post 12 Mar. c1/1 Yong Bean was nerveless for a chap with only one year's experience on the tour under his belt. 1989 N.Y. Times 9 Oct. c9/6 The victory [was]..cemented on Dahlen's second goal of the game and John Vanbiesbrouck's nerveless goaltending down the stretch. 1995 New Yorker 27 Mar. 81/1 She dispatches the most demanding variations with cool science, a high, soft line, and an apparently nerveless lack of restraint. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.1681
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