Tenter

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A wooden framework fitted with hooks on which wet cloth is pinned and dried under tension ; to fasten fabric onto such a frame so it dries evenly and taut
2. A rack with hooks that holds woven fabric stretched flat while it dries ; to pin material to such a rack so that it is stretched straight
3. An apparatus of hooks set in a frame to keep cloth extended during drying ; to hook a textile onto that apparatus and stretch it to the proper width

Etymology: Tenter, the wooden frame on which freshly woven cloth was stretched and pinned to dry without shrinking, is a word whose modern senses have wandered far from the cloth. The frames were called tenters, and the phrase "on tenterhooks" comes from the hooks, or pins, set along them. To be "on tenterhooks" was to be stretched taut and kept in suspense, which is why the expression now describes anxious waiting. The word came into English via Old French, and is perhaps from the Latin "tentorium", meaning a tent or something stretched out. The link fits the work: a tenter stretched cloth tight, much as a tent cover is stretched over its supports. The noun and the verb share this sense of stretching, so to tenter a piece of cloth was to fix it on the frame.