Word of the Day Archive
Saturday April 9, 2011
tenterhooks \TEN-ter-hooks\
, noun:
1. On tenterhooks, in a state of uneasy suspense or painful anxiety.
2. One of the hooks or bent nails that hold cloth stretched on a tenter.
"I wait on tenterhooks to see if my ploy of last night will yield the desired outcome."
-- Stephanie Laurens , The Elusive Bride
"Such as the fact that this Sevarin has been dangling after Miss Stone in earnest, and the village seems to be hanging on tenterhooks in expectation of a betrothel announcement."
-- Judith McNaught , Whitney, My Love
Tenterhooks usually occurs in the idiomatic phrase "on tenterhooks," from the type of hook that that hold cloth stretched on a tenter.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for tenterhooks
