ON TENTERHOOKS (or TENTERS), adv. phr. (old).—In suspense; anxious; on the rack (or stretch).
1607. HEYWOOD, The Fair Maid of the Exchange [PEARSON, Works, II. 25]. Mall. How, upon the TENTERS? indeed if the whole peece were so stretcht, and very well beaten with a yard of reformation, no doubt it would grow to a goodly breadth.
1758. GOLDSMITH, Sequel to the Poetical Balance. It was gallantry that suited her own maiden loftiness, ever stretched upon the TENTERS of punctilio.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 102. I was too much on the TENTERHOOKS about the result to mind his orders. Ibid., 236. One must sit on the TENTERHOOKS of self-denial.
1868. WHYTE-MELVILLE, The White Rose, II. xxviii. I know Dolly’s on TENTER-HOOKS now.
