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Examples
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"A'ye in, Sandy?" cried Dauvid Kenawee, in a nervish kind o 'a voice.
My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond
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The twa keepit at it wi 'their proverbs till I got akinda nervish, d'ye ken.
My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond
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You know 'ow it is with children;' ow nervish they git with a little thing and all.
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She is maybe nervish with a person dead in the house.
Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago Margaret 1891
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Dinna be feared; in a time or twa ye'll be nae mair nervish than mysel '.
Bog-Myrtle and Peat Tales Chiefly of Galloway Gathered from the Years 1889 to 1895 1887
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It always makes me sick, an 'when it doesn't make me sick, it makes me nervish.
The Coxswain's Bride also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue 1859
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Not that I'm given to bein 'nervish; an', if I was, it wouldn't matter much, for the sea would take it out o 'me, whether or not.
The Coxswain's Bride also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue 1859
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When they quitted us giggling, I could not keep from laughing too; though the sights I had seen, and the fright I had got, made me nervish and eerie; so blithe was I when the cart rattled on our own street, and I began to waken Benjie, as we were not above a hundred yards from our own door.
The Life of Mansie Wauch tailor in Dalkeith David Macbeth Moir 1824
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When they quitted us giggling, I could not keep from laughing too; though the sights I had seen, and the fright I had got, made me nervish and eerie; so blithe was I when the cart rattled on our own street, and I began to waken Benjie, as we were not above a hundred yards from our own door.
The Life of Mansie Wauch Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself David Macbeth Moir 1824
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In Pike County, the belly of the beast of Appalachia, both the landscape and the politicians are impervious, and the people are nervish, a word mountain people shamelessly made up to add severity to an existing word.
Gammerstang commented on the word nervish
(adjective) - (1) Affected with weakness of nerves. The word seems to be a corruption of nervous, and therefore cut out of its proper place, but in point of fact, the word nervous is a mere modern abuse. Mr. Pegge recommends nervish to be substituted for nervous, to signify weakness of the nerves. And by all means, let it be put down to our credit that we have anticipated his recommendation by many years. --Rev. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830 (2) To preserve a distinction when we speak of such a man, and of the disorder by which his strength is impaired, we should rather say a nervish man, and a nervish disorder, which termination conforms with similar words, such as waspish, devilish, feverish--all expressive of bad qualities or disordered habits. --Samuel Pegge's Anecdotes of the English Language, 1844
February 7, 2018