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.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Ten"dril (?), a.
Clasping; climbing as a tendril.
[R.]
Dyer.
© Webster 1913.