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A tenter is a frame on which cloth is stretched during manufacture, so that it may dry evenly. The frame is outfitted with sharp hooks or bent nails that hold the cloth stretched. These hooks, you will not be surprised to learn, are called tenterhooks.
Cloth-stretching being outside of most people's range of experience these days, tenterhook is rarely found except in the figurative expression on tenterhooks, meaning 'in a state of uneasy suspense or painful anxiety'.
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The phrase on tenterhooks means in a condition of (anxious) suspense.
For its origins and development, here is a paraphrase of the information as laid out in the on line OED:
A tenteris a wooden framework on which cloth is stretched after being milled, so that it may set or dry evenly and without shrinking. Thus a tenterhookis a form of hook (sometimes a bent nail), a number of which are set in a close row along the upper and lower bar of a tenter, by which the edges of the cloth are firmly held. The metaphorical use of the tenterhook means something that is stretched or strained; and by extension something that causes suffering or painful suspense.
The word was used in various phrases, such as to put, set, strain, stretch on the tenterhooks: to strain, distort the sense of (words); to strain (conscience, truth, authority, credit, etc.) beyond the proper, normal, or natural extent, limit, or scope; to put a strain on (a faculty, power, or capacity). None of these are commonly found in modern use.
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Some 4-letter words that start with O:
oaks
oaky
oars
oast
oath
oats
obey
oboe
odds
odes
odor
offs
ogle
ogre
oils
oily
oink
okay
okra
oleo
olio
omen
omit
ones
only
onto
onus
onyx
ooze
opah
opal
open
opts
opus
oral
orca
orgy
otic
ouch
ours
oust
oval
oven
over
ovum
owed
ower
owes
owls
owns
oxen
Oars, oath, obey, oboe, odds, oily, oink, okay, omen, omit, once, only, onto, open and ouch are 4 letter words. Additional words include ours, outs, oval, oven, over, owed, owls, owns and oxen.
4 letter words O: * oath * over * oven * only * onyx * ooze * oven * omit * odor * oboe * ovum * open * odds * omen * oily * ocra * opal * opus * oral * oryx * ouch * ooze * owes * owns
oval, open, owls, olay, oats, only
onus
* opus * oven * over * oval * oxen * only * orgy * omit * oath * ogle * oars * odds * obey * oboe * onto * odor * ogre * oily * okra * omen * open * oral * ouch * ours * oust
open.order.option,other
Four letter words beginning with O are:
- ogre
- okra
- oleo
- omen
- once
- onus
- opal
- open
- orca
- ouch
- oust
- oval
- oven
- over
- ovum
A four letter word starting with an "o" is: OVER
opal open obey obit oboe odor odds okra olio omit omen only onto onyx onus ooze oozy opus oral orca ouch oryx oust ovum oxen over oval oven
oaks
oars
oast
oats
obis
odds
odea
odes
odor
offs
ogre
oils
oink
okay
oleo
olio
omen
once
only
onto
onus
onyx
oops
ooze
opah
opal
open
opts
opus
oral
orbs
orca
orcs
ores
orts
otic
ouch
ours
oust
outs
oval
oven
over
ovum
owes
owed
ower
owls
owns
oxen
oxer
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