tenter
Americannoun
-
a framework on which cloth in the process of manufacture is stretched so it may set or dry evenly.
-
Obsolete. a tenterhook.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a frame on which cloth is stretched during the manufacturing process in order that it may retain its shape while drying
-
a person who stretches cloth on a tenter
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tenter
1300–50; Middle English tente to stretch (< Latin tentus, variant of tēnsus tense 1 ) + -er 1; replacing Middle English teyntur, of unclear derivation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Soon Jocelin himself is wrestling with the high cost of inspiration, strung taut between the tenter hooks of divine and earthly means.
From Time Magazine Archive
His attitude betrays an overwhelming, gloomy anxiety which has him on tenter hooks.
From Anna Christie by O'Neill, Eugene
I always felt on tenter hooks in her presence, from the very first date of our acquaintanceship.
From She and I, Volume 1 by Hutcheson, John C. (John Conroy)
Some of the higher-ups are dead sure you are Mr. Shei, and the whole town is on tenter hooks on account of the notices posted last night.
From The Gray Phantom by Landon, Herman
Sometimes hooks were used, from which we get the phrase 'to be on tenter hooks'—to be on a stretch with anxiety.
From The History of London by Besant, Walter, Sir
At Colter Bay, in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming, a luxurious campground financed by the Rockefellers has segregated areas for cabin campers, trailer campers, campers, or just plain tenters.
From Time Magazine Archive
The preachers left the field to join the tenters; and, if possible, surpassed their previous exhibitions.
From A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America by Ferrall, S. A. (Simon Ansley)
No thrall's hands in the hangings were, No thrall's hands made the tenters bare.
From Poems By The Way & Love Is Enough by Morris, William
Whitechapel takes its name from a white chapel-of-ease built to relieve Stepney, in which parish this district was till 1763. tenters: pegs for stretching cloth.
From The History of London by Besant, Walter, Sir
Garrick was on the tenters of suspense, and there Foote kept him a full hour.
From All About Coffee by Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
