Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TEN'DRIL, n. [Fr. tendron, from tenir, to hold.]

A filiform spiral shoot of a plant that winds round another body for the purpose of support. Tendrils or claspers are given to plants that have weak stalks. Ray. They are also given to creeping vines which require support on the earth. A tendril, in most cases, is a peculiar modification of a petiole; though sometimes it is a modification of some part of the inflorescence, as in the vine. Lindley.