Just what could this week’s subject be? Have you been on tenterhooks? What on earth are tenterhooks?

First, why don’t we get something right: you’re on TENTERhooks, perhaps not TENDERhooks.

Where We Obtain The Word ‚Tenterhooks‘

To determine just what a tenterhook is, we need to realize that sometime ago manufacturers kept freshly milled woolen fabric from shrinking whilst it dried by extending it on a wood framework called a tenter. It comes down through the Latin term tentus, which means that “to stretch.”

The phrase ‚tenterhooks‘ originates from the steel hooks that manufacturers used to extend wool on a tenter although it dried.

The 1845 Encyclopaedia Metropolitana or Universal Dictionary of real information, Volume 1, defines a tenter as “a range straight articles fixed to your ground, with a horizontal that is continuous train at the top as long as the little bit of fabric; there are additionally other horizontal rails that are fitted between your upright articles … both top of the and reduced rails are driven high in tenterhooks; on these the listings regarding the fabric are fastened, after which it the low or movable rail is pushed downwards into the complete breadth associated with the fabric, after which guaranteed in its destination because of the pins. In this state, the pieces are kept to dry.”

So a tenterhook is a steel hook that holds the fabric in position in the tenter, while the structures had been lay out in areas so that the wool could dry.Continue reading→