To be ‘on tenterhooks’ is to be in a state of uncomfortable suspense or impatience. What's the origin of the phrase 'On tenterhooks'? Tenterhooks aren’t connected with tents, nor are they the hooks used by butchers, as the common misspelling ‘tenderhooks’ might suggest.

“On tenterhooks” means “waiting nervously for something to happen.” The word tenter means “a frame used for drying and stretching cloth” and is related to tent, so being “on tenterhooks” compares the tenseness of the stretched fabric to the tension of nervous waiting.

The lengths of wet cloth were stretched on the tenter using tenterhooks, hooked nails made with a long shank that was driven into the wooden tenter frame around its perimeter, on which the selvedges were fixed so that the cloth would retain its shape and size as it dried.

To be on tenterhooks means to be stretched tight or to be tense while in anticipation or suspense. The phrase is often preceded by "waiting," which emphasizes the quality of anxious uncertainty, a kind of worry that you feel physically.

They are on tenterhooks—their livelihoods are at stake and their families do not know what will happen.

May 22, 2023 · The idiom "tenterhooks" is used to express the feeling of suspense, anxiety, or impatience due to uncertainty or a pending outcome. If you're on tenterhooks, you're anxiously …

The idiom “on tenterhooks” is a commonly used expression in English language that signifies a state of anxiety, nervousness or anticipation. It is often used to describe situations where …

Definition: In suspense; in a nervous state. This expression would have been easier to understand many years ago, when tenters and tenterhooks were still commonly seen. Nowadays, these …

On tenterhooks In a state of agonising suspense, the expression dates from the mid-18th century but is preceded by an earlier expression ‘on tenters’ meaning the same thing that dates from the 1500s.

If you are on tenterhooks, you are very nervous or excited, because you are keen to know what is going to happen. The market was on tenterhooks about the size of the rate cut. `It was a good match wasn't it?