on tenterhooks

Cultural  

1. To be kept on tenterhooks is to be held in a state of nervous apprehension: “We've been on tenterhooks since the election results started coming in.”

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on tenterhooks Idioms  

1. In a state of painful suspense, as in We were on tenterhooks all through the game, hoping against hope that our team would win. This expression alludes to hooks that formerly were used to hold newly woven cloth that was being stretched on a frame. Their name has long survived this method of manufacture. [Mid-1700s]

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A tenterhook was a hooked device used in the 1700s to secure newly woven cloth onto a frame.

Example Sentences

Is it why markets are rocking, why oil shipments are cut back from the Strait of Hormuz, why the world hangs on tenterhooks of suspense over what happens next?

From Slate • Mar. 4, 2026

Murase said she felt "immense joy" at her gold but admitted she had been on tenterhooks until her final run.

From Barron's • Feb. 9, 2026

As a way to find joy, she said, in a time when news and world events have us all on tenterhooks.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 26, 2025

He knows he’s already gotten one of the spots, but Ruthie is still on tenterhooks.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2025

Harry had his wand raised, waiting on tenterhooks to repel a jinx that seemed unlikely ever to come.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling