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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fibril

Fibril \Fi"bril\, n. [F. fibrille, dim. of fibre, L. fibra.] A small fiber; the branch of a fiber; a very slender thread; a fibrilla.
--Cheyne.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
fibril

1680s, Anglicization of Modern Latin fibrilla "a little fiber, a filament," especially in botany, diminutive of Latin fibra "a fiber, filament" (see fiber). Latin fibra and fibrilla were used in 17c. physiology in English alongside nativized fibre and fibril. From 1931 as "thread-like molecular formation."

Wiktionary
fibril

n. 1 A fine fibre or filament 2 (context biology English) Any fine, filamentous structure in animals or plants

WordNet
fibril

n. a very slender natural or synthetic fiber [syn: filament, strand]

Wikipedia
Fibril

Fibril is a fine fiber, such as a myofibril or neurofibril. Neurofilaments are about 10 nanometers in diameter.

Cytoplasmic fibrils are observed on the protoplasmic cylinders found in most spirochetal species, although no function of the cytoplasmic fibrils has been ascribed.

Polysaccharides, the union of several linked monosaccharides, sometimes serve as a structural compound. Cellulose forms cable-like strings, known as fibrils in the tough walls that enclose plant cells. While cellulose is a compilation of glucose monomers, they form unbranched, long strands instead of coils like starch or glycogen. These are arranged in parallel lines which form on top of each other in an intricate layer through hydrogen bonding.

Insect flight muscle is said to be fibrillar, in that it contracts in response to being stretched by antagonistic muscle, so as to allow very rapid (up to 1000 Hz) contraction.

Usage examples of "fibril".

He seized a fragment of nopal-stuff in his hand, in the hand of his analogue, whirled it up, beat at the sucker, at the fibril.

Burke reached forth with his analogue hands, broke one of the fibrils.

Directly over his own head wavered another of the fibrils, ending in an empty sucker-palp.

The fibrils stretched and popped and twanged, like the strings of a musical instrument.

All of a sudden the fibrils contracted, pulling themselves up into the main body of the growth, and then they relaxed again and the sheen and movement faded.

As each foot lifted, the heavy skin rolled back, uncovering the eye, and the sensory fibrils shot out.

The transparent, blue fibrils sparked silver flashes that glittered when they touched the green halo.

The fibrils maintained a rapid tremor that gave them a hazy, blurred look.

The upper side of each, as he examined it, was white, with brownish fibrils, or scales.

They are more like bundles of actin or myosin fibrils, surrounded by networks of macrotubules which transport cytoplasmic components, much as do microtubules in our familiar cellular structure.