This week’s theme
Fossil words

This week’s words
fettle
kilter
wreak
tenterhook

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(TEN-tuhr-hook)

MEANING:

noun: One of various hooks used for stretching cloth on a frame.

ETYMOLOGY:

From tenter (a frame for stretching cloth to dry during manufacturing), from tendere (to stretch) + hook, from Old English hoc. Earliest documented use: 1480.

NOTES:

The word is typically used in the phrase “on tenterhooks” meaning in a state of suspense or anxiety, like nerves pegged to a frame.

USAGE:

“The movement of a tiger around coal mines ... continued to keep forest officials on tenterhooks for the second consecutive day on Saturday.”
Tiger Movement Near Coal Mines; Telangana Today (Hyderabad, India); Dec 13, 2025.

See more usage examples of tenterhook in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: