tenter meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

tenter

noun

/ˈtɛntəɹ/

Etymology Via Old French, perhaps from Latin tentorium.

A framework upon which cloth is stretched and dried.

One who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman.

Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A kind of governor, or regulating device.

verb

Etymology Via Old French, perhaps from Latin tentorium.

To stretch cloth on such a framework.

To admit extension; to be stretchable.

Woollen cloth will tenter, linen scarcely.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC: