tenter

American  

[ten-ter] / ˈtɛn tər /

noun

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

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

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

Vos Hautes Puissances jugeront bien par le camp que nous venons de prendre, qu'on n'a pas voulu se r�soudre � tenter les lignes.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 by Various

We could see at every house a tenter, and on almost every tenter a piece of cloth or kersie or shalloon....

From The Armies of Labor A chronicle of the organized wage-earners by Orth, Samuel Peter

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)

I know he is on tenter hooks all the time, too.

From Tripping with the Tucker Twins by Speed, Nell