A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1638-1645
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Nervous, -ose, a. [e.m.E. and late ME. nervous; in sense a (1718), b (1637); L. nervōs-us.] a. Of a bow: Strung. (Cf. L. nervus sinew, bow-string, Nerve n.) b. ‘Sinewy’; fig. succinct, pithy. — 1638 Archery Reviv'd 4.
She generously taught her sons to know No other weapon, but the nervous bow 1645 Baillie II. 311.
If yow would move Apollonius … to give him a succinct and nervose answer, it would be a seasonable service
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"Nervous adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 6 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/nervous>
