tenter

American  

[ten-ter] / ˈtɛn tər /

noun

• tenters
  plural

1. a framework on which cloth in the process of manufacture is stretched so it may set or dry evenly.

2. Obsolete. a tenterhook.

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verb (used with object)

1. to stretch (cloth) on a tenter or tenters.

verb (used without object)

1. to be capable of being tentered.

tenter British  

/ ˈtɛntə /

noun

1. a frame on which cloth is stretched during the manufacturing process in order that it may retain its shape while drying

2. a person who stretches cloth on a tenter

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verb

1. (tr) to stretch (cloth) on a tenter

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• untentered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tenters
  plural

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

See Examples For:

tenter tenters

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

But I'll keep her on tenter hooks to-night.

From Helen Grant's Schooldays by Amanda M. Douglas

Syne, while I still was on the tenter, I scunnered at the new prezentor; I thocht him gesterin’ an’ cauld— A sair declension frae the auld.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 14 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson

Hence span-new is fresh from the stretchers, or frames, alluding to cloth, a very old manufacture of the country; and spick and span is fresh from the spike, or tenter, and frames.

From Notes and Queries, Number 78, April 26, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by George Bell

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 Herman Landon

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

No thrall’s hands in the hangings were, No thrall’s hands made the tenters bare.

From Poems By the Way by William Morris

Even the hot supper of steak and potatoes that Penny prepared failed to sufficiently warm the two tenters.

From Voice from the Cave by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt

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 William Morris

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 Sir Walter Besant