be on tenterhooks

be on tenterhooks

It's a Chinese idiom,

Pinyin is Zu ò B ù nx í,

Definition: describes the heart of something, restless.

It comes from Xiang Yu's biography in historical records.

Entry

be on tenterhooks

Pinyin

zuòbùānxí

Citation explanation

I feel restless when I have something in my heart. In the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Qian's historical records, Xiang Yu's biography, said, "and the new soldiers broke, the king was not at ease." Biography of Zhang Fei, Volume 36 of the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu: I'm calm, I can't sit down, I can't eat well, I swear by the whole army that I will be punished by heaven. In the book of Wei, Li Zhi San: "ministers and others are not at ease because they are so angry." Su Shi of Song Dynasty wrote that the first table for Wen Yanbo in Wenwu bailiao was to ask the emperor to resume his regular meal in the main hall of the Imperial Palace, but he refused to comment on it: "in the second year after I ascended the throne, floods and droughts continued to cause disasters, so it was Chongren. It is not only to the innocent, but also to Wen mu. It's because you can't sit down and eat well. " Chapter 8 of romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong of the Ming Dynasty: situ Wang Yungui went to the mansion to ponder over what happened at the banquet today. Chapter 10 of the chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty by Feng Menglong of the Ming Dynasty: "on the day of the sun, the sacrificial feet were imprisoned in the military mansion, and the guards around the Jias were full of water. I'm afraid, I'm not at ease. "

Idiom usage

It is used as predicate and attributive; it refers to restlessness

Analysis of Idioms

Fidgeting