Origin of the phrase

[RichardIreso]

What is the origin of the phrase 'On Tenter Hooks'

[woofgang]

Tenter hooks were used to stretch tapestry or embroidery after it was finished and before it was hung or used to cover chairs etc. When you weave or embroider by hand, the fabric comes out "off true" which means that the threads no longer lie at 90degrees to one another and a square piece of cloth goes to more of a diamond shape.( If you want to see what i mean, get a newly ironed handkerchief and pull on opposite corners then lay it out flat.) so what you do with your weaving or embroidery is wet it then stretch it on tenterhooks making sure that it is square and let it dry

[Quizmonster]

Just to add a little - re the phrase's origins - to Woofgang's fine answer...the 'tenter' part probably comes from the Latin word 'tendere', meaning 'to stretch' - hence the name for the hooks used in cloth-stretching.

It was first used in the early 18th century in the sense in which we almost always use it today...ie of people in painful suspense or impatience, as if their nerves were drawn almost to breaking-point.

[Kit]

To add a little to the previous excellent answers: "Tenter comes from the Latin tendere, to stretch, via a French intermediate. The word has been in the language since the fourteenth century, and on tenters soon after became a phrase meaning painful anxiety. The exact phrase "on tenterhooks" seems first to have been used by Tobias Smollett in Roderick Random in 1748." World Wide Words http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-ont1.htm

[RichardIreso]

Thank you for an excellent range of answers