bundle of nerves

English edit

bundle of nerves (plural bundles of nerves)

(idiomatic) A person with an especially nervous, excitable, or fearful disposition.
- 1895, Thomas Hardy, chapter 22, in The Hand of Ethelberta:
  Being in point of fact a complete bundle of nerves and nothing else, his thin figure shook like a harp-string in painful excitement at a contretemps which would scarcely have quickened the pulse of an ordinary man.
- 1972 March 27, “Sudsy Whiff of Humanity”, in Time:
  She is a jittery bundle of nerves rather than the tough stoic she ought to be.
(idiomatic, dated) A lively, continually active person.
- 1883 November 5, “Talk Across the Table”, in New York Times, retrieved 15 Apr. 2009, page 4:
  "Come and take lunch with me." The speaker was a walking, talking bundle of nerves, clothed in black broadcloth. A flawless diamond sparkled on the scarlet scarf that peeped above his close-fitting Prince Albert coat, and a pair of roguish eyes danced above two rosy cheeks.
- 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 8, in The Mucker‎^[1], All-Story Cavalier Weekly:
  He found Pesita pacing back and forth before his tent—an energetic bundle of nerves which no amount of hard riding and fighting could tire or discourage.

(nervous, excitable, fearful person): bag of nerves, worrywart; see also Thesaurus:worrier or Thesaurus:coward
(lively, continually active person): bundle of energy; See also Thesaurus:doer

nervous person — see bag of nerves