Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Tendril

Tendril , noun

[Shortened from Old French tendrillon, from French tendre tender; hence, properly, the tender branch or spring of a plant: compare French tendrille. See Tender, a., and compare Tendron.]

(Botany) A slender, leafless portion of a plant by which it becomes attached to a supporting body, after which the tendril usually contracts by coiling spirally.

Tendrils may represent the end of a stem, as in the grapevine; an axillary branch, as in the passion flower; stipules, as in the genus Smilax; or the end of a leaf, as in the pea.

Tendril , adjective

Clasping; climbing as a tendril. [Rare] — Dyer