tenterhooks
['t?nt?h?ks]
- n. 焦慮不安
英文詞源
- tenterhooks
- tenterhooks: [15] A tenterhook is one of a set of hooks used to hold cloth taut on a frame during manufacture, especially while its dries (tenter comes from medieval Latin tentorium, a derivative of Latin tendere ‘stretch’). The metaphorical use of on tenterhooks to mean ‘in a state of agonizing suspense’ dates from the mid- 18th century.
- tenterhooks (n.)
- plural of tenterhook (late 15c.), "one of the hooks that holds cloth on a tenter," from tenter + hook (n.). The figurative phrase on tenterhooks "in painful suspense" is from 1748; earlier to be on tenters (1530s).
雙語例句
- 1. People are disquieted [ on tenterhooks ] .
- 人心惶惶.
來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》
- 2. He was still on tenterhooks waiting for his directors' decision about the job.
- 他仍緊張不安地等待著主任們對他的工作作出的決定。
來自柯林斯例句
- 3. The students are on tenterhooks to hear the result of the examination.
- 學生們煩躁不安地聽考試結果.
來自辭典例句
- 4. The mother was on tenterhooks until her little Laura came back.
- 當小珞拉回來后,她母親才放下心來.
來自辭典例句
- 5. I waited, on tenterhooks, for Uncle Jack to tell Atticus my side of it.
- 我提心吊膽地等著杰克叔叔告訴阿迪克斯我的理由.
來自辭典例句