tenterhook - meaning and definition. What is tenterhook
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What (who) is tenterhook - definition

HOOKED NAIL FOR USE IN A TENTERFRAME
Tenter hooks; Tenter; Tenter hook; Tenterhooks; Tenderhook; Tenderhooks; Tenter frame; On tenterhooks; Stenter frame
  • Tenter hook in an 1822 trade catalogue, published by H. Barns & Sons, of Birmingham, England
  • Tenterhooks on what may be the world's last remaining 18th-century tenter frames at [[Otterburn Mill]], Northumberland.

tenterhook         
¦ noun historical a hook used to fasten cloth on a tenter.
Phrases
on tenterhooks in a state of agitated suspense.
Tenterhook         
Tenterhooks or tenter hooks are hooked nails in a device called a tenter. Tenters were wooden frames which were used as far back as the 14th century in the process of making woollen cloth.
tenterhooks         
n. on tenterhooks ('in suspense')

Wikipedia

Tenterhook

Tenterhooks or tenter hooks are hooked nails in a device called a tenter. Tenters were wooden frames which were used as far back as the 14th century in the process of making woollen cloth. They are now superseded by stenter pins.

The phrase "on tenterhooks" has become a metaphor for nervous anticipation.