FromMiddle Frenchtendrillon(“bud, shoot, cartilage”), perhaps a diminutive oftendron(“cartilage”), fromOld Frenchtendre(“soft”) (seetender (adj.)), or else fromLatintendere(“to stretch, extend”) (seetender (v.)).
tendril (pluraltendrils)
- (botany) A thin,spirallycoilingstem that attaches aplant to itssupport.
1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, inCyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […],→OCLC,page17:TheGourd, / And thirſtyCucumer, vvhen they perceive / Th' approachingOlive, vvith Reſentment fly / Her fatty Fibres, and vvithTendrils creep / Diverſe, deteſting Contact;[…]
- (zoology) Ahair-liketentacle.
thin, spirally coiling stem
tendril (notcomparable)
- Having the shape or properties of a tendril; thin and coiling;entwining.
1907,Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson,Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published1980, page275:Kissing thetendril fingers - at first because Mina, its mother, did not - but later with a rapture begot by its breath on her breast.
