fibrousadj.
/ˈfʌɪbrəs/, U.S. /ˈfaɪbrəs/ 1. Full of fibres; formed of fibres:
a. in animals. fibrous tissue: the ordinary connective tissue in the body. fibrous tumour = fibroid adj. and n.
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the world > life > the body > bodily substance > fibre > [adjective]
fibrous1657
fibrillous1737
fibrillous1747
osseofibrous1845
fibroelastic1891
1657 S. Purchas Theatre Flying-insects iii. 7 Their [Bees'] back and breast is a kind of reddish fibrous flesh.
1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia Isagoge sig. B8 Their lungs are single, fibrous..and fungous.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. II. 350 Blood..separates into two portions, the coagulum or fibrous part, and the serum.
1872 T. H. Huxley Lessons Elem. Physiol. (ed. 6) ii. 23 Outside the muscular coat is a sheath of fibrous or connective tissue.
1885 Creighton in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 369/1 The fibrous tumors may become cystic in their interior.
b. in plants.
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the world > matter > constitution of matter > other specific kinds of texture > [adjective] > fibrous
thready1597
towy1601
fibrous1626
filaceous1626
stringy1669
filamentous1682
fibrose1697
fibrillous1747
filamentose1848
fibrillated1849
fibry1882
fibrillate1884
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §616 There are of Roots, Bulbous Roots, Fibrous Roots, and Hursute Roots.
1677 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Oxford-shire 144 Which large Violet from a fibrous root sendeth forth many leaves.
1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 232 Branches..Of fibrous cordage and impending shrouds.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 196 From its fibrous bark we procure the comfort of linen.
1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 300 Cyclamen hederæfolium..tuber fibrous all over.
c. in minerals and metals.
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1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 452 Fibrous asbestos, alumen plumosum, is mild magnesia, combined with silex, calcareous earth, and a small proportion of argill, and iron.
1805 R. Jameson Treat. External Characters Minerals 64 The fibrous fracture.. . In this kind of fracture we have to attend to the thickness..and the position of the fibres.
1813 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. vii. 175 Thin strata of beautiful white fibrous gypsum occur in marle.
1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 88 The metal has been changed from the molecular to the fibrous.
d. Of protein: having an elongated molecular structure showing little folding.
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1931 Nature 2 May 663/2 X-ray photographs of fibrous proteins.
1954 J. C. Kendrew in H. Neurath & K. Bailey Proteins II b. xxiii. 846 Structure protein is often macroscopically fibrous; hence the term ‘fibrous protein’ is more or less synonymous with structure protein... It has, in fact, become conventional to divide the whole range of proteins into two main classes: the fibrous and the globular.
1968 A. C. T. North in W. G. Crewther Symp. Fibrous Proteins 13 In comparing the relationships between primary sequence and secondary structure found in fibrous and globular proteins, account must be taken of the repetitive nature of fibrous protein sequences.
2. Resembling fibre or fibres; fibre-like.
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the world > space > shape > condition of being long in relation to breadth > [adjective] > like a thread
reaminga1398
threadish1578
thready1597
filamentous1682
fibrous1707
filiform1758
thread-like1774
fibry1802
filiformed1851
tendrilous1857
fibrine1881
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 81 There are fibrous Tubes in Trees, for the Sap to mount.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab i. 6 Yon fibrous cloud..Were scarce so thin, so slight.
Compounds
C1.
fibrous-rooted adj.
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1796 C. Marshall Introd. Knowl. & Pract. Gardening xviii. 363 Spindle rooted plants (as stocks), should be transplanted where they are to blow, as young as may be; but fibrous rooted ones may be moved much older.
1845 J. Lindley School Bot. (1858) viii. 134 Generally bulbous, sometimes fibrous-rooted.
C2.
fibrous grass n. a Tasmanian grass, Stipa semibarbata, the stem of which splits into fibre when the seed is ripe.
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1862 W. Archer Prod. Tasmania 41 Fibrous grass.
Derivatives
ˈfibrously adv. in a fibrous manner; like fibres.
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the world > space > shape > condition of being long in relation to breadth > [adverb] > like fibre
fibrously1881
1881 J. S. in Art Jrnl. 102/1 The two faded leaves drawn so very fibrously.
1891 Harper's Mag. Jan. 210/1 Low-hanging firs..all fibrously a-glitter.
ˈfibrousness n. the state or quality of being fibrous.
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the world > matter > constitution of matter > other specific kinds of texture > [noun] > fibrous texture
fibrousness1727
fibre1823
fibrillation1839
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Fibrousness, fulness of fibres.
1827 Westm. Rev. 9 174 Fibrousness is its essential character.
1833 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal II. 342 The fibrousness produced by this operation is again removed.
1854 C. H. Jones & E. H. Sieveking Man. Pathol. Anat. ii. 33 They never show any organized arrangement beyond a low grade of fibrousness.
Draft additions September 2006
fibrous dysplasia n. Medicine replacement of a localized area of one or more bones by fibrous tissue, probably resulting from a developmental disorder and often as part of a syndrome, and usually associated with some degree of pain together with deformity and fragility of the affected bone or bones.
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1938 L. Lichtenstein in Arch. Surg. 36 540/1 This is well brought out in Mr. R. C. Elmslie's paper on fibrosis of bone and in L. Lichtenstein's excellent account of this condition (Arch. Surg. 1938, 36, 874) under the title of ‘polyostotic fibrous dysplasia’.
1977 Jrnl. Oral Surg. 11 924 Fibrous dysplasia is a usually benign fibro-osseous abnormality of bone that may occur as monostotic, polyostotic, or craniofacial disease or as a part of a syndrome.
1993 S. J. Ettinger Pocket Compan. Textbk. Vet. Internal Med. cxxi. 806 Polyostotic bone cysts associated with fibrous dysplasia have been reported, in which the disease is thought to be inherited.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1626