What does “out of nerves” mean in this context?
... Hermione had been right; Professor Flitwick did indeed test them on Cheering Charms. Harry slightly overdid his out of nerves and Ron, who was partnering him, ended up in fits of hysterical laughter and had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before he was ready to perform the charm himself. ...
I don't quite get what "out of nerves" means in this context. I've looked it up and it doesn't seem to be a set phrase. I guess it could mean "Harry is nervous, so he slightly overdid his Cheering Charms...". But I don't know if my understanding is correct. How should we understand it here?
meaning-in-context phrase-meaning
add a comment |
... Hermione had been right; Professor Flitwick did indeed test them on Cheering Charms. Harry slightly overdid his out of nerves and Ron, who was partnering him, ended up in fits of hysterical laughter and had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before he was ready to perform the charm himself. ...
I don't quite get what "out of nerves" means in this context. I've looked it up and it doesn't seem to be a set phrase. I guess it could mean "Harry is nervous, so he slightly overdid his Cheering Charms...". But I don't know if my understanding is correct. How should we understand it here?
meaning-in-context phrase-meaning
add a comment |
... Hermione had been right; Professor Flitwick did indeed test them on Cheering Charms. Harry slightly overdid his out of nerves and Ron, who was partnering him, ended up in fits of hysterical laughter and had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before he was ready to perform the charm himself. ...
I don't quite get what "out of nerves" means in this context. I've looked it up and it doesn't seem to be a set phrase. I guess it could mean "Harry is nervous, so he slightly overdid his Cheering Charms...". But I don't know if my understanding is correct. How should we understand it here?
meaning-in-context phrase-meaning
... Hermione had been right; Professor Flitwick did indeed test them on Cheering Charms. Harry slightly overdid his out of nerves and Ron, who was partnering him, ended up in fits of hysterical laughter and had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before he was ready to perform the charm himself. ...
I don't quite get what "out of nerves" means in this context. I've looked it up and it doesn't seem to be a set phrase. I guess it could mean "Harry is nervous, so he slightly overdid his Cheering Charms...". But I don't know if my understanding is correct. How should we understand it here?
meaning-in-context phrase-meaning
meaning-in-context phrase-meaning
asked Nov 26 at 11:53
dan
4,42022565
4,42022565
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
The phrase out of means "because of" or "motivated by".
She said that out of jealousy.
Because he was nervous.
P.S. But I should add that it sounds strange to my ear when used of something that is not truly a motive (fear, envy, jealousy, love, respect, anger, concern, etc).
I understand why @dan is confused, because I am too. Shouldn't it be "out of nerve", being nerve uncountable, to mean that Harry was nervous? Could it mean also that a sort of "no worries" spell, being "out of nerves" a kind of charm, was casted on Ron and it went wrong?
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 12:46
6
@RubioRic: nerve in the singular means audacity whereas nerves in the plural refers to "the jitters", the shaky and insecure feeling of nervousness.
– Tᴚoɯɐuo
Nov 26 at 12:50
2
@RubioRic The expression is you're getting on my nerves. (Although some people turn it into a joke and say you're getting on my last nerve.) Also, we refer to people as having a case of the nerves (not a case of the nerve). In general, expressions involving the word use it in a plural form. The one exception I can think of is when somebody says they are getting up their nerve to do something. But nerve is being used in a different sense in that expression.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 26 at 13:30
@JasonBassford Thanks both of you
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 13:41
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "481"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f186681%2fwhat-does-out-of-nerves-mean-in-this-context%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The phrase out of means "because of" or "motivated by".
She said that out of jealousy.
Because he was nervous.
P.S. But I should add that it sounds strange to my ear when used of something that is not truly a motive (fear, envy, jealousy, love, respect, anger, concern, etc).
I understand why @dan is confused, because I am too. Shouldn't it be "out of nerve", being nerve uncountable, to mean that Harry was nervous? Could it mean also that a sort of "no worries" spell, being "out of nerves" a kind of charm, was casted on Ron and it went wrong?
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 12:46
6
@RubioRic: nerve in the singular means audacity whereas nerves in the plural refers to "the jitters", the shaky and insecure feeling of nervousness.
– Tᴚoɯɐuo
Nov 26 at 12:50
2
@RubioRic The expression is you're getting on my nerves. (Although some people turn it into a joke and say you're getting on my last nerve.) Also, we refer to people as having a case of the nerves (not a case of the nerve). In general, expressions involving the word use it in a plural form. The one exception I can think of is when somebody says they are getting up their nerve to do something. But nerve is being used in a different sense in that expression.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 26 at 13:30
@JasonBassford Thanks both of you
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 13:41
add a comment |
The phrase out of means "because of" or "motivated by".
She said that out of jealousy.
Because he was nervous.
P.S. But I should add that it sounds strange to my ear when used of something that is not truly a motive (fear, envy, jealousy, love, respect, anger, concern, etc).
I understand why @dan is confused, because I am too. Shouldn't it be "out of nerve", being nerve uncountable, to mean that Harry was nervous? Could it mean also that a sort of "no worries" spell, being "out of nerves" a kind of charm, was casted on Ron and it went wrong?
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 12:46
6
@RubioRic: nerve in the singular means audacity whereas nerves in the plural refers to "the jitters", the shaky and insecure feeling of nervousness.
– Tᴚoɯɐuo
Nov 26 at 12:50
2
@RubioRic The expression is you're getting on my nerves. (Although some people turn it into a joke and say you're getting on my last nerve.) Also, we refer to people as having a case of the nerves (not a case of the nerve). In general, expressions involving the word use it in a plural form. The one exception I can think of is when somebody says they are getting up their nerve to do something. But nerve is being used in a different sense in that expression.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 26 at 13:30
@JasonBassford Thanks both of you
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 13:41
add a comment |
The phrase out of means "because of" or "motivated by".
She said that out of jealousy.
Because he was nervous.
P.S. But I should add that it sounds strange to my ear when used of something that is not truly a motive (fear, envy, jealousy, love, respect, anger, concern, etc).
The phrase out of means "because of" or "motivated by".
She said that out of jealousy.
Because he was nervous.
P.S. But I should add that it sounds strange to my ear when used of something that is not truly a motive (fear, envy, jealousy, love, respect, anger, concern, etc).
edited Nov 26 at 12:22
answered Nov 26 at 12:14
Tᴚoɯɐuo
107k679173
107k679173
I understand why @dan is confused, because I am too. Shouldn't it be "out of nerve", being nerve uncountable, to mean that Harry was nervous? Could it mean also that a sort of "no worries" spell, being "out of nerves" a kind of charm, was casted on Ron and it went wrong?
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 12:46
6
@RubioRic: nerve in the singular means audacity whereas nerves in the plural refers to "the jitters", the shaky and insecure feeling of nervousness.
– Tᴚoɯɐuo
Nov 26 at 12:50
2
@RubioRic The expression is you're getting on my nerves. (Although some people turn it into a joke and say you're getting on my last nerve.) Also, we refer to people as having a case of the nerves (not a case of the nerve). In general, expressions involving the word use it in a plural form. The one exception I can think of is when somebody says they are getting up their nerve to do something. But nerve is being used in a different sense in that expression.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 26 at 13:30
@JasonBassford Thanks both of you
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 13:41
add a comment |
I understand why @dan is confused, because I am too. Shouldn't it be "out of nerve", being nerve uncountable, to mean that Harry was nervous? Could it mean also that a sort of "no worries" spell, being "out of nerves" a kind of charm, was casted on Ron and it went wrong?
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 12:46
6
@RubioRic: nerve in the singular means audacity whereas nerves in the plural refers to "the jitters", the shaky and insecure feeling of nervousness.
– Tᴚoɯɐuo
Nov 26 at 12:50
2
@RubioRic The expression is you're getting on my nerves. (Although some people turn it into a joke and say you're getting on my last nerve.) Also, we refer to people as having a case of the nerves (not a case of the nerve). In general, expressions involving the word use it in a plural form. The one exception I can think of is when somebody says they are getting up their nerve to do something. But nerve is being used in a different sense in that expression.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 26 at 13:30
@JasonBassford Thanks both of you
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 13:41
I understand why @dan is confused, because I am too. Shouldn't it be "out of nerve", being nerve uncountable, to mean that Harry was nervous? Could it mean also that a sort of "no worries" spell, being "out of nerves" a kind of charm, was casted on Ron and it went wrong?
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 12:46
I understand why @dan is confused, because I am too. Shouldn't it be "out of nerve", being nerve uncountable, to mean that Harry was nervous? Could it mean also that a sort of "no worries" spell, being "out of nerves" a kind of charm, was casted on Ron and it went wrong?
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 12:46
6
6
@RubioRic: nerve in the singular means audacity whereas nerves in the plural refers to "the jitters", the shaky and insecure feeling of nervousness.
– Tᴚoɯɐuo
Nov 26 at 12:50
@RubioRic: nerve in the singular means audacity whereas nerves in the plural refers to "the jitters", the shaky and insecure feeling of nervousness.
– Tᴚoɯɐuo
Nov 26 at 12:50
2
2
@RubioRic The expression is you're getting on my nerves. (Although some people turn it into a joke and say you're getting on my last nerve.) Also, we refer to people as having a case of the nerves (not a case of the nerve). In general, expressions involving the word use it in a plural form. The one exception I can think of is when somebody says they are getting up their nerve to do something. But nerve is being used in a different sense in that expression.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 26 at 13:30
@RubioRic The expression is you're getting on my nerves. (Although some people turn it into a joke and say you're getting on my last nerve.) Also, we refer to people as having a case of the nerves (not a case of the nerve). In general, expressions involving the word use it in a plural form. The one exception I can think of is when somebody says they are getting up their nerve to do something. But nerve is being used in a different sense in that expression.
– Jason Bassford
Nov 26 at 13:30
@JasonBassford Thanks both of you
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 13:41
@JasonBassford Thanks both of you
– RubioRic
Nov 26 at 13:41
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language Learners Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f186681%2fwhat-does-out-of-nerves-mean-in-this-context%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown