{ Fi"ber, Fi"bre }, (?), n.
[F. fibre, L. fibra.] 1.One of
the delicate, threadlike portions of which the tissues of plants and
animals are in part constituted; as, the fiber of flax or of
muscle.
2.Any fine, slender thread, or threadlike
substance; as, a fiber of spun glass; especially, one of the
slender rootlets of a plant.
3.Sinew; strength; toughness; as, a man of
real fiber.
Yet had no fibers in him, nor no
force.
Chapman.
4.A general name for the raw material, such
as cotton, flax, hemp, etc., used in textile manufactures.
Fiber gun, a kind of steam gun for
converting, wood, straw, etc., into fiber. The material is shut up in
the gun with steam, air, or gas at a very high pressure which is
afterward relieved suddenly by letting a lid at the muzzle fly open,
when the rapid expansion separates the fibers. -- Fiber
plants(Bot.), plants capable of yielding fiber
useful in the arts, as hemp, flax, ramie, agave, etc.