tether
/ˈtɛðəɹ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.96 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An attachment to a place, time, entity or person.
num
Alternative form of tethera.
Example Sentences
- "With the bulky, heavy helmet for the film strapped on, I was inside a fully immersive virtual world. With de la Peña playing minder and holding a tether which prevented me from bumping into walls, I somehow ended up inside the news story."
- "We suffer the weather / We bind and we tether / This nation together"
- "Since his hours have increased, I feel that he is at the end of his tether."
- "Despite moving, he maintained a strong tether to his culture back home."
- "Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether, / But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together."
- "what tethers us to gravity and light / has most to do with distance and the shapes / we find in water"
Etymology
From Middle English tether, teder, from Old English *tēoder and/or Old Norse tjóðr ( > Danish tøjr, Swedish tjuder); both from Proto-Germanic *teudrą (“rope; cord; shaft”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dewtro-, from Proto-Indo-European *dew- (“to tie”), or from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Cognate with North German Tüder (“tether for binding the cattle”), Swedish tjuder (“tether for binding cattle”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɛðəɹ/
- British English: /ˈtɛðə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
at the end of one’s tether