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tenterhook
/ ˈtɛntəˌhʊk /
noun
- one of a series of hooks or bent nails used to hold cloth stretched on a tenter
- on tenterhooksin a state of tension or suspense
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Word History and Origins
Origin of tenterhook1
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Idioms and Phrases
Idioms
- on tenterhooks, in a state of uneasy suspense or painful anxiety:
The movie keeps one on tenterhooks until the very last moment.
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Example Sentences
What I prefer is a hellish hovering, an endless torturing Tenterhook between the two.
From Project Gutenberg
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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.
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