E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Tenterhooks.
I am on tenterhooks, or on tenterhooks of great expectation. My curiosity is on the full stretch, I am most curious or anxious to hear the issue. Cloth, after being woven, is stretched or “tentered” on hooks passed through the selvages. (Latin, tentus, stretched, hence “tent,” canvas stretched.)
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“He was not kept an instant on the tenterhooks of impatience longer than the appointed moment.”—Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. xvi.
