fiber

Fi"ber, Fi"bre, (, n. Etym: [F. fibre, L. fibra.] 1. One of the delicate, threadlike portions of which the tissues of plants and animals are in part constituted; as, the fiber of flax or of muscle. 2. Any fine, slender thread, or threadlike substance; as, a fiber of spun glass; especially, one of the slender rootlets of a plant. 3. Sinew; strength; toughness; as, a man of real fiber. Yet had no fibers in him, nor no force. Chapman. 4. A general name for the raw material, such as cotton, flax, hemp, etc., used in textile manufactures. Fiber gun, a kind of steam gun for converting, wood, straw, etc., into fiber. The material is shut up in the gun with steam, air, or gas at a very high pressure which is afterward relieved suddenly by letting a lid at the muzzle fly open, when the rapid expansion separates the fibers. -- Fiber plants (Bot.), plants capable of yielding fiber useful in the arts, as hemp, flax, ramie, agave, etc.

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