FIBER

noun Etymology: Middle French fibre, from Latin fibra Date: 1540 a thread or a structure or object resembling a thread: as, a. a slender root (as of a grass), an elongated tapering thick-walled plant cell void at maturity that imparts elasticity, flexibility, and tensile strength, b. a strand of nerve tissue ; axon , dendrite , one of the filaments composing most of the intercellular matrix of connective tissue, one of the elongated contractile cells of muscle tissue, a slender and greatly elongated natural or synthetic filament (as of wool, cotton, asbestos, gold, glass, or rayon) typically capable of being spun into yarn, mostly indigestible material in food that stimulates the intestine to peristalsis, material made of ~s, 3. an element that gives texture or substance, basic toughness ; strength , fortitude , essential structure or character , ~ed adjective