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

• 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

In truth he feels an unaccountable overwhelming desire to know what the weighty matter was, but he is not to know, and therefore is kept on tenter hooks for some time.

From Lippa by Egerton, Beatrice

These stones were nearly round, with a score cut around the tenter, and look as if this score was cut for the purpose of putting a withe round for a handle.

From The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2) by Warburton, George

Si la sagesse renonce à consoler cette pauvre race humaine, trahie par le sort, laisse la folie tenter l'aventure.

From Occasional Papers Selected from the Guardian, the Times, and the Saturday Review, 1846-1890 by Church, R. W. (Richard William)

At one kind two girls sit, each watching an edge of the cloth and keeping it straight on the tenter hooks, so it will feed evenly.

From Making Both Ends Meet The income and outlay of New York working girls by Clark, Sue Ainslie