nail-biting

nail-biting
nail-biter, n.
/nayl"buy'ting/, n.
1. the act or practice of biting one's fingernails, esp. as the result of anxiety or nervousness.
2. Informal. nervousness: The announcement that the trade agreement had been signed ended a week of nail-biting on Wall Street.
adj.
3. Informal. causing nervousness: The nail-biting part of the canoe trip was through the stretches of white water.
[1890-95]

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Universalium. 2010.

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