Crossword clues for tenter
tenter
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tenter \Ten"ter\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Tentered; p. pr. & vb. n. Tentering.] To admit extension.
Woolen cloth will tenter, linen scarcely.
--Bacon.
Tenter \Ten"ter\, v. t. To hang or stretch on, or as on, tenters.
Tenter \Ten"ter\, n.
One who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman.
(Mach.) A kind of governor.
Tenter \Ten"ter\, n. [OE. tenture, tentoure, OF. tenture a stretching, spreading, F. tenture hangings, tapestry, from L. tendere, tentum, to stretch. See Tend to move.] A machine or frame for stretching cloth by means of hooks, called tenter-hooks, so that it may dry even and square.
Tenter ground, a place where tenters are erected.
Tenter-hook, a sharp, hooked nail used for fastening cloth on a tenter.
To be on the tenters, To be on the tenter-hooks or To be
on tenterhooks, to be on the stretch; to be in distress,
uneasiness, or suspense.
--Hudibras.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, "wooden framework for stretching cloth," of uncertain origin, probably via Old French (but the evolution of the ending is obscure), and ultimately from Latin tentorium "tent made of stretched skins," from tentus "stretched," variant past participle of tendere "to stretch" (see tenet).
Wiktionary
n. 1 A framework upon which cloth is stretched and dried. 2 One who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman. 3 (context engineering English) A kind of governor, or regulating device. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To stretch cloth on such a framework. 2 (context intransitive English) To admit extension; to be stretchable.
WordNet
n. a framework with hooks used for stretching and drying cloth
Usage examples of "tenter".
His attitude betrays an overwhelming, gloomy anxiety which has him on tenter hooks.
For reasons that we shall examine later, they have much more to gain by the business than men, and so they are prompted by their cooler sagacity tenter upon it on the most favourable terms possible, and with the minimum admixture of disarming emotion.
A round hole, about a foot across, was stamped out of the very tenter of the table and it was obvious that the zero-gravity field, if it was to be produced, would be produced through that hole in the center of the billiard table.
Three women paused in their work of hanging the heavy, fulled cloth upon wooden tenter frames to shout and wave to the passing men.
I told her that a tenter was the frame on which they used to stretch cloth when they made it, so it would dry evenly, and the bent nails around the frame were tenterhooks.
If Jonathan lost his temper and voiced his opinions in any but the softest voice, the other tenters would know all about his discontent.
Favoring tenters, the state park dedicated only twenty percent of its sites to campers requiring utilities.