Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A framework on which milled cloth is stretched for drying without shrinkage.
- noun Archaic A tenterhook.
- transitive verb To stretch (cloth) on a tenter.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who lives in a tent.
- To hang or stretch on or as on tenters.
- To support or resist the straining of the tenter; bear tentering.
- noun A tender; one who tends or has the care or oversight of something: as, a cattle-tenter; specifically, a person in a factory who tends or watches machinery; often, also, an overseer or foreman in a factory.
- noun A machine or frame used in the manufacture of cloth to stretch out the pieces of stuff, so that they may set or dry evenly and square.
- noun Same as
tenter-hook . - noun One of the little bristles of a fly's foot; a tentacle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman.
- noun (Mach.) A kind of governor.
- transitive verb To hang or stretch on, or as on, tenters.
- noun A machine or frame for stretching cloth by means of hooks, called
tenter-hooks , so that it may dry even and square. - noun a place where tenters are erected.
- noun a sharp, hooked nail used for fastening cloth on a tenter.
- noun to be on the stretch; to be in distress, uneasiness, or suspense.
- intransitive verb To admit extension.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
framework upon whichcloth isstretched anddried . - verb To
stretch cloth on such a framework.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a framework with hooks used for stretching and drying cloth
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tenter.
Examples
-
Lily, a regular "tenter," shot up freely, grew up a real tomboy, went a bit too far, in fact, Ma said: at Honolulu, for instance, on the road to
-
To prevent this shrinkage, the wet cloth would be placed on a large wooden frame, a "tenter", and left to dry outside.
-
To prevent this shrinkage, the wet cloth would be placed on a large wooden frame, a "tenter", and left to dry outside.
-
To prevent this shrinkage, the wet cloth would be placed on a large wooden frame, a "tenter", and left to dry outside.
-
To prevent this shrinkage, the wet cloth would be placed on a large wooden frame, a "tenter", and left to dry outside.
-
Those poor lads will now be on tenter hooks for the next 6months at least before the results of the enquiry are delivered.
London G20 Police outnumbered and attacked « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG
-
English synonyms: to dicker, to bargain, to wrangle, to haggle, to higgle, to huckster marchander un prix = to negotiate a price tenter de marchander = to try to bargain
-
English synonyms: to dicker, to bargain, to wrangle, to haggle, to higgle, to huckster marchander un prix = to negotiate a price tenter de marchander = to try to bargain
-
They are their own worst enemies; the ‘big tent’ is only so big, before you turn on your fellow ‘big tenter’.
-
If Coleman sees that his ship is sinking (like it is now), il va tenter son va-tout.
Minnesota Supremes Go Partly With Coleman On Absentee Ballot Suit, With Major Strings Attached
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.