tenterhook的词源解释,tenterhook来源

also tenter-hook, late 15c., "hook for holding or stretching cloth on a tenter," from tenter (q.v.) + hook (n.).

Extended figuratively to anything that painfully strains or tortures; to be on the tenter, on tenters was "on the rack" 1530s, hence "in distress or suspense." The common figurative phrase on tenterhooks "in painful suspense" is attested from 1748; earlier be on tenters (1530s).

该词起源时间：15世纪末