tenter
Americannoun
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a framework on which cloth in the process of manufacture is stretched so it may set or dry evenly.
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Obsolete. a tenterhook.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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a frame on which cloth is stretched during the manufacturing process in order that it may retain its shape while drying
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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
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 Underwoods by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Think of fourteen days spent waiting; waiting for something, with your heart on tenter hooks.
From Quiet Talks on Prayer by Gordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
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
Every one was on tenter hooks to see how she would be greeted by the grateful Emperor.
From The Princess Virginia by Guipon, Leon
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 Morris, William
Even the hot supper of steak and potatoes that Penny prepared failed to sufficiently warm the two tenters.
From Voice from the Cave by Wirt, Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine)
True woman!—How you love to put one upon the tenters!
From Pamela, Volume II by Richardson, Samuel
And pray write now, to say you do so come, for dear Mrs. Westwood else will be on the tenters of incertitude.
From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 6 Letters 1821-1842 by Lamb, Mary
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.
