tenterhooks: [15] A tenterhook is one of a set of hooks used to hold cloth taut on a frame during manufacture, especially while its dries (tenter comes from medieval Latin tentorium, a derivative of Latin tendere ‘stretch’). The metaphorical use of on tenterhooks to mean ‘in a state of agonizing suspense’ dates from the mid- 18th century.
tenterhooks (n.)
plural of tenterhook (late 15c.), "one of the hooks that holds cloth on a tenter," from tenter + hook (n.). The figurative phrase on tenterhooks "in painful suspense" is from 1748; earlier to be on tenters (1530s).
雙語例句
1. People are disquieted [ on tenterhooks ] .
人心惶惶.
來自《現(xiàn)代漢英綜合大詞典》
2. He was still on tenterhooks waiting for his directors' decision about the job.
他仍緊張不安地等待著主任們對他的工作作出的決定。
來自柯林斯例句
3. The students are on tenterhooks to hear the result of the examination.
學(xué)生們煩躁不安地聽考試結(jié)果.
來自辭典例句
4. The mother was on tenterhooks until her little Laura came back.
當(dāng)小珞拉回來后,她母親才放下心來.
來自辭典例句
5. I waited, on tenterhooks, for Uncle Jack to tell Atticus my side of it.