"Tenter" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... preference to one of mine—the man I care most for in the world, and whom I chose especially for you; why, you've speared me right through a very tender part; however, as I said before, what you do, do quickly! I cannot bear to be kept upon the tenter hooks!" ...
— The Missing Bride • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
... in marriage is seldom, if ever, observed in women. For reasons that we shall examine later, they have much more to gain by the business than men, and so they are prompted by their cooler sagacity tenter upon it on the most favourable terms possible, and with the minimum admixture of disarming emotion. Men almost invariably get their mates by the process called falling in love; save among the aristocracies of the North and Latin men, the marriage of convenience is relatively rare; a hundred ...
— In Defense of Women • H. L. Mencken
... was still inclined to her conjecture that he was using her to draw Miss Collett, playing her off against Miss Collett, stinging Miss Collett to the desired frenzy by hanging that admirable woman upon tenter-hooks. That was why Jane felt so safe with him; because, she argued, he couldn't do it if he had not felt safe with her. He was not in love with her. He was not even, like Tanqueray, ...
— The Creators - A Comedy • May Sinclair
... boon of dreamless sleep? Who bricks would make, sans straw or clay? "Call spirits from the vasty deep," Or weave a lofty, living lay? Let him be heartened, jocund, gay, Nor hopeless writhe on tenter-hooks,— They meet no barriers who essay The easy road of "How ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume III. (of X.) • Various
... au diable; dj ils regardaient srieusement du ct de la plaine, comme disposs s'en retourner par o ils taient venus, quand leur chef, convaincu que les menaces ne produiraient aucune impression sur le fils de Falcone, voulut faire un dernier effort et tenter le pouvoir ...
— Quatre contes de Prosper Mrime • F. C. L. Van Steenderen
... hadn't sensed it a mite—jest got it which-end-t'other. An talk! Wa'al, I think it must 'a' ben a kind of disease with him. He really didn't mean no harm, mebbe, but he couldn't no more help lettin' out anythin' he knowed, or thought he knowed, than a settin' hen c'n help settin'. He kep' me on tenter-hooks the hull ...
— David Harum - A Story of American Life • Edward Noyes Westcott
... seemed to feel, then that was all the more reason for him to go quickly. But Pocket was not the man to get up and run like that. Perhaps he enjoyed displaying his bravery on the point, and keeping his companion on tenter-hooks on his account; at any rate he insisted on finishing his breakfast, and gave further free expression to the wildest surmises as he did so. And yet he was even then on the brink of a discovery which was some excuse for the wildest of them ...
— The Camera Fiend • E.W. Hornung
... at once on your return?' said Merton. 'I shall be on tenter-hooks till I see you again. If I knew what you are really about, I'd take counsel's opinion. Medical opinion does not satisfy me: I ...
— The Disentanglers • Andrew Lang
... about somebody else, Mary, whom you've kept on tenter-hooks ever so long? Are you sure he is not walking up and down under the limes on the brink ...
— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge |
