Hypertext Webster Gateway: "tendril"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Tendril \Ten"dril\, a.
Clasping; climbing as a tendril. [R.] --Dyer.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
tendril
n : slender stemlike structure by which some twining plants
attach themselves to an object for support
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