What does tenterhooks mean in England?
waiting nervously for something to happen
The phrase “on tenterhooks” means “waiting nervously for something to happen.” A tenterhook is literally a sharp hook that fastens cloth to a tenter, a frame on which cloth is stretched, like a tent, for even drying to prevent shrinkage. Other property owners in the area remain on tenterhooks.
What are tenterhooks used for?
Tenterhooks were used in the process of making woollen cloth. After water has been squeezed out, the woolen cloth was crumpled and needed to be straightened and dried under tension, or it would shrink. The wet cloth was stretched on a large wooden frame, a “tenter”, and left to dry.
How would you be feeling if you were on tenterhooks?
When we say we are “on tenterhooks,” we mean that we are feeling tense or agitated due to anticipating a future event.
Why do we say tender hooks?
It comes from the Latin word tentus, which means “to stretch.” The word ‘tenterhooks’ comes from the metal hooks that manufacturers used to stretch wool on a tenter while it dried. So a tenterhook is a metal hook that holds the cloth in place on the tenter, and the frames were set out in fields so the wool could dry.
Where does upset the apple cart come from?
Spoil carefully laid plans, as in Now don’t upset the applecart by revealing where we’re going. This expression started out as upset the cart, used since Roman times to mean “spoil everything.” The precise idiom dates from the late 1700s.
Where did the term tenterhooks come from?
Are tenterhooks still used?
The word tenter is still used today to refer to production line machinery employed to stretch polyester films and similar fabrics. The spelling stenter is also found.
What kind of Hook is a Tenterhook?
Tenterhooks are hooks in a device called a tenter. Tenters were originally large wooden frames which were used as far back as the 14th century in the process of making woollen cloth.
Where are the last remaining 18th century tenter hooks?
Tenterhooks on what may be the world’s last remaining 18th-century tenter frames at Otterburn Mill, Northumberland. 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 woolen cloth.
Is the phrase’one is on tenterhooks’really true?
There is a phrase that says one is on tenterhooks. This word commonly gets misspelled as tenderhooks. You might think that these are just two words that can be used in place of each other, but tenderhooks is not actually a real word. Tenterhooks (Meaning and Use)
Can you keep a man on tenterhooks for 24 hours?
It would be quite impossible to keep a man on tenterhooks for 24 hours. Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0