Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The energy, actual or potential, of the nervous system; the capacity of the nervous system for work.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Well, this worthy old Bouvard it was who proposed to prove to me that nerve-force put in motion by the magnetizer was, not indeed infinite, for man is under immutable laws, but a power acting like other powers of nature whose elemental essence escapes our observation.

    Scenes from a Courtesan's Life 2007

  • It is to such exhaustion that Dr. Clarke especially attributes excessive uterine hæmorrhage in young girls, and, as already said, he refers the exhaustion to a single cause, namely, to the attempt to impose on the nervous system two actions of equal intensity, contrary to the fundamental law that an intense evolution of nerve-force in one part of the organism necessitates repose in the remainder.

    The Education of American Girls Anna Callender Brackett

  • Friends flocked to the shells to bring them alongside the floats where, nerve-force coming to the rescue of physical exhaustion, the big fellows managed to scramble to the floats and fairly hug each other as they did an elephantine dance in feet from which some stockings were sagging, and some gone altogether.

    Peggy Stewart: Navy Girl at Home

  • So after prolonged mental exertion, or in fact any effort which involves an expenditure of what is often called nerve-force, sleep becomes a necessity.

    A Practical Physiology Albert F. Blaisdell

  • If you have hard work to do then do it with the least possible expenditure of worry and nerve-force.

    The Woman Beautiful or, The Art of Beauty Culture Helen Follett Stevans

  • This evolution of nerve-force which accompanies the maturation of the ovule, is the immediate cause of the afflux of blood to the utero-ovarian vessels.

    The Education of American Girls Anna Callender Brackett

  • There was only enough nerve-force to enable one to live from hand to mouth.

    The Daughters of Danaus Mona Caird

  • This habitual predominance or irregularity of the ganglionic nerves implies, as has been seen, a relatively deficient innervation or generation of nerve-force in the cerebro-spinal system.

    The Education of American Girls Anna Callender Brackett

  • Each of these nervous masses contains nerve-cells as well as nerve-fibres, and is capable of generating nerve-force.

    The Education of American Girls Anna Callender Brackett

  • Animal magnetism is the nerve-force of all human and animal bodies, and is common to every person in a greater or less degree.

    The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing A Manual of Ready Reference Joseph Triemens

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