Definition of "tenter" [ten•ter]

• A framework on which milled cloth is stretched for drying without shrinkage. (noun)
• Archaic A tenterhook. (noun)
• To stretch (cloth) on a tenter. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Lily, a regular "tenter," shot up freely, grew up a real tomboy, went a bit too far, in fact, Ma said: at Honolulu, for instance, on the road to"
• "To prevent this shrinkage, the wet cloth would be placed on a large wooden frame, a "tenter", and left to dry outside."
• "Those poor lads will now be on tenter hooks for the next 6months at least before the results of the enquiry are delivered."