Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A framework on which milled cloth is stretched for drying without shrinkage.
- n. Archaic A tenterhook.
- v. To stretch (cloth) on a tenter.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who lives in a tent.
- n. 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. Along the upper and lower crosspieces, which can be fixed apart from each other at any required distance, are numerous sharp hooks, called
tenter-hooks , on which the selvages of the cloth are hooked. - n. Same as tenter-hook.
- n. One of the little bristles of a fly's foot; a tentacle.
- To hang or stretch on or as on tenters.
- To support or resist the straining of the tenter; bear tentering.
- n. 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.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman.
- n. (Mach.) A kind of governor.
- n. A machine or frame for stretching cloth by means of hooks, called
tenter-hooks , so that it may dry even and square. - v. To admit extension.
- v. To hang or stretch on, or as on, tenters.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a framework with hooks used for stretching and drying cloth
Etymologies
- Via Old French, perhaps from Latin tentorium. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English teyntur, tentour, probably ultimately from Latin tentōrium, shelter made of stretched skins, from tendere, to stretch; see tent1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
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.”
“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”
“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
“Audio File & Example Sentence: Listen to my son, Max, pronounce the following French words: Download Le mot juste ...on va de nouveau éplucher nos mœurs et nos habitudes pour tenter de trouver le mot juste et surtout le bon sens.”
“He was not kept on the tenter-hooks of impatience an instant longer than the appointed moment arrived, for, even as the clock struck, Ambrose appeared at the door of the gallery, and made a sign that Alan should follow him.”
“Les Manufactures d'Indiennes, si communes à Marseilles qu'on y voit partout les ouvriers travailler dans les rues, attirerent mes regards, & c'est là d'où me vint l'idée de tenter d'imprimer les tableaux dans le même gout.”
“Bon et bien je vais tenter une note parce que je ne sais plus tres bien ou j'en suis avec tous ces problemes qui s'accumulent!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tenter’.
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In the Collieries
A collection of coal mining and colliery terms. Some British, some Scots, and some, Other. Many terms are quite to the point; others colorful and imaginative.
Also see Middlesmith's li...fire-damp, black-damp, choke-damp, skip, basket, gallery, Gregory lamp, pit, balance, balancer, tenter, coupler and 313 more...
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Former ghosts
Ghost words that I've adopted because the original listers abandoned them. Yarb has more in his Adoption agency, and many orphlings are tagged as ghosted, ghost phrases, misspellings, or typos.
orphling, listkeeper, grandmotherly, scroogish, theocon, frownie, afternoons, loggin, supercalliwhat, avunculate, kokako, stygimolochs and 379 more...
Tweets
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