fiber

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A slender, elongated, threadlike object or structure.
2. n. Botany One of the elongated, thick-walled cells that give strength and support to plant tissue.
3. n. Anatomy Any of the filaments constituting the extracellular matrix of connective tissue.
4. n. Anatomy Any of various elongated cells or threadlike structures, especially a muscle fiber or a nerve fiber.
5. n. A natural or synthetic filament, as of cotton or nylon, capable of being spun into yarn.
6. n. Material made of such filaments.
7. n. Something that provides substance or texture.
8. n. Essential character: "stirred the deeper fibers of my nature” ( Oscar Wilde).
9. n. Basic strength or toughness; fortitude: lacking in moral fiber.
10. n. Coarse, indigestible plant matter, consisting primarily of polysaccharides such as cellulose, that when eaten stimulates intestinal peristalsis. Also called bulk, roughage.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A thread or filament; any fine thread-like part of a substance, as a single natural filament of wool, cotton, silk, or asbestos, one of the slender terminal roots of a plant, a drawn-out thread of glass, etc.
2. n. In a collective sense, a filamentous substance; a conglomeration of thread-like tissue, such as exists in animals and plants generally; more generally, any animal, vegetable, or even mineral substance the constituent parts of which may be separated into or used to form threads for textile fabrics or the like: as, muscular or vegetable fiber; the fiber of wool; silk, cotton, or jute fiber; asbestos fiber.
3. n. Figuratively, sinew; strength: as, a man of fiber.
4. n. Material; stuff; quality; character.
5. n. Specifically In anatomy and zoology: A filament; a slender thread-like element, as of muscular or nervous tissue. Most tissues and structures of the body are composed of bundles of fibers. See cut under muscular.
6. n. Fibrous tissue in general.
7. n. very fine processes passing through and seeming to rivet together several concentric laminæ of bone-tissue; perforating fibers.
8. n. The specific name of the beaver, Castor fiber.
9. n. [capitalized] A genus of rodents, of the family Muridæ and subfamily Arvicolinæ, of which the type is the muskrat, musquash, or ondatra of North America, Fiber zibethicus, having a long scaly tail, vertically flattened, and large webbed hind feet. See muskrat.

Wiktionary

1. n. countable A single elongated piece of a given material, roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibers to form thread.
2. n. uncountable A material in the form of fibers.
3. n. textiles A material whose length is at least 1000 times its width.
4. n. Dietary fiber.
5. n. figuratively Moral strength and resolve.
6. n. mathematics The preimage of a given point in the range of a map.
7. n. computing A kind of lightweight thread of execution.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One of the delicate, threadlike portions of which the tissues of plants and animals are in part constituted.
2. n. Any fine, slender thread, or threadlike substance; ; especially, one of the slender rootlets of a plant.
3. n. the inherent complex of attributes that determine a person's moral and ethical actions and reactions; sinew; strength; toughness.
4. n. A general name for the raw material, such as cotton, flax, hemp, etc., used in textile manufactures.
5. n. (Nutrition) that portion of food composed of carbohydrates which are completely or partly indigestible, such as cellulose or pectin; it may be in an insoluble or a soluble form. It provides bulk to the solid waste and stimulates peristalsis in the intestine. It is found especially in grains, fruits, and vegetables. There is some medical evidence which indicates that diets high in fiber reduce the risk of colon cancer and reduce cholesterol levels in the blood. It is also called dietary fiber, roughage, or bulk.
6. n. a leatherlike material made by compressing layers of paper or cloth.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. coarse, indigestible plant food low in nutrients; its bulk stimulates intestinal peristalsis
2. n. any of several elongated, threadlike cells (especially a muscle fiber or a nerve fiber)
3. n. a leatherlike material made by compressing layers of paper or cloth
4. n. the inherent complex of attributes that determines a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions
5. n. a slender and greatly elongated substance capable of being spun into yarn