Definition of "nerve-center" [nerve-center]

• A group of ganglion-cells closely connected with one another and acting together in the performance of some function, as the cerebral centers, psychical centers, respiratory or vasomotor centers. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• ""This is necessary in order to avoid fly-by-night, reckless and excitable flexing of muscles and decisions that overlook certain fundamentals that could irreparably harm the nerve-center of our recovering economy.""
• "The area is now largely encompassed by Pakistan's notorious North-West Frontier Province, nerve-center of the cross-border Taliban insurgency, with Peshawar as its regional capital."
• "Once again, the target of Bush's assault on Padilla was habeas corpus, the ideological nerve-center of American jurisprudence"