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ither to a direct stimulus of its substance, or to the stimulating influence of its nerve fibers, the response being indicated by a change of form, or contraction; contractility.

sense, when its nerve is affected by some external body; esp., the act of exciting muscle fibers to contraction, by artificial stimulation; as, the irritation of a motor nerve by electricity; also, the condition of a muscle and nerve, under such stimulation.

oco. The natives eat its fruit and buds, drink its sap, and make thread and cord from its fiber.

sh and small; the berries black or yellow. The stem clings to walls and trees by rootlike fibers. Direct The clasping ivy where to climb. Milton. Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere. Milton. American ivy. (Bot.) See Virginia creeper. -- English ivy (Bot.), a popular name in America for the ivy proper (Hedera helix).…

The fine, soft fiber of the bromeliaceous plant Bromelia sylvestris.

A Mexican name for a variety of Agave rigida, which furnishes a strong coarse fiber; also, the fiber itself, which is called also pita, and Tampico fiber. [Written also istle.]

e. The fruit is of great size, weighing from thirty to forty pounds, and through its soft fibrous matter are scattered the seeds, which are roasted and eaten. The wood is of a yellow color, fine grain, and rather heavy, and is much used in cabinetwork. It is also used for dyeing a brilliant yellow. [Written also jak.]…

A steel-gray mineral, of metallic luster, commonly fibrous massive. It is a sulphide of antimony and lead, with a little iron.

A Mexican name for the Sisal hemp (Agave rigida, var. Sisalana); also, its fiber. [Written also heniequen.]

b (Corchorus olitorius) cultivated in Syria and Egypt as a pot herb, and in India for its fiber. -- Jew's pitch, asphaltum; bitumen. -- The Wandering Jew, an imaginary personage, who, for his cruelty to the Savior during his passion, is doomed to wander on the earth till Christ's second coming.

A delicate fiber, produced in the Philippine Islands from an unidentified plant, of which dresses, etc., are made.

The coarse, strong fiber of the East Indian Corchorus olitorius, and C. capsularis; also, the plant itself. The fiber is much used for making mats, gunny cloth, cordage, hangings, paper, etc.

A fibrous mineral occurring in tufts of a straw-yellow color. It is a hydrous silicate of alumina and manganese.

asm, complicated changes take place in the nucleus, attended with movement of the nuclear fibrils; -- opposed to karyostenosis. The nucleus becomes enlarged and convoluted, and finally the threads are separated into two groups which ultimately become disconnected and constitute the daughter nuclei. Called also mitosis.…

The reticular network of fine fibers, of which the nucleus of a cell is in part composed; -- in opposition to kytomiton, or the network in the body of the cell. W. Flemming.

An order of sponges having a skeleton composed of hornlike fibers. It includes the commercial sponges.

Containing hornlike fibers or fibers of keratose; belonging to the Keratosa.

A portion of a branch of a tree that forms a mass of woody fiber running at an angle with the grain of the main stock and making a hard place in the timber. A loose knot is generally the remains of a dead branch of a tree covered by later woody growth.

Cocoanut fiber, or the cordage made from it. See Coir.

A bundle or fascicle of muscular fibers.