Tendril
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
tendril
n 1: slender stem-like structure by which some twining plants
attach themselves to an object for support
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Tendril \Ten"dril\, n. [Shortened fr. OF. tendrillon, fr. F.
tendre tender; hence, properly, the tender branch or spring
of a plant: cf. F. tendrille. See {Tender}, a., and cf.
{Tendron}.] (Bot.)
A slender, leafless portion of a plant by which it becomes
attached to a supporting body, after which the tendril
usually contracts by coiling spirally.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Tendrils may represent the end of a stem, as in the
grapevine; an axillary branch, as in the passion
flower; stipules, as in the genus Smilax; or the end of
a leaf, as in the pea.
[1913 Webster]
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
86 Moby Thesaurus words for "tendril":
animal fiber, appendage, arm, artificial fiber, bine, bough,
branch, branchedness, branchiness, burgeon, capillament, cilium,
cirrus, cobweb, coil, corkscrew, curl, curlicue, deadwood, denier,
evolute, fiber, fibrilla, filament, filamentule, flagellum, fork,
frond, gossamer, gyre, hair, hand, hank, helix, imp, involute,
joint, kink, leg, limb, link, lobe, lobule, member, offshoot,
organ, pinion, ramage, ramification, ringlet, roll, runner,
sarment, scion, screw, scroll, shoot, skein, slip, spear, spiral,
spray, sprig, sprit, sprout, spur, stolon, strand, sucker, suture,
swirl, switch, tail, thallus, thread, threadlet, twig, twirl,
twist, volute, volution, vortex, web, whirl, whorl, wing
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