be on tenterhooks

be on tenterhooks

Panic, Chinese idiom, Pinyin is Hu á nghu á NGB ù n, which means fear and uneasiness. It comes from the biography of Wang Mang in the book of Han Dynasty.

Idiom usage

Dong Zhuo stationed his troops outside the city. He brought armored horse troops into the city every day and ran through the streets. The people were in a state of panic. The third chapter of romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong in Ming Dynasty

Analysis of Idioms

They are at ease, at ease and at leisure

The origin of Idioms

In the book of the Han Dynasty, Wang Mang said, "the people are at camp, and they are at a loss." Yan shigu's note: "to be in a camp is to be in a panic."