fibre

Etymology

From French fibre, from Old French, from Latin fibra.

noun

1. (countable) A single piece of a given material, elongated and roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibres to form thread.
   The microscope showed several different fibres stuck to the sole of the shoe.
2. (uncountable) Material in the form of fibres.
   The cloth was made from strange, somewhat rough fibre.
3. Dietary fibre.
   Fresh vegetables are a good source of fibre.
4. Moral strength and resolve.
   He was gentlemanly, steady, tractable, with a thorough knowledge of his duties; and in time, when yet very young, he became chief mate of a fine ship, without ever having been tested by those events of the sea that show in the light of day the inner worth of a man, the edge of his temper, and the fibre of his stuff; that reveal the quality of his resistance and the secret truth of his pretences, not only to others but also to himself. 1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 2, in Lord Jim
   The ordeal was a test of everyone’s fibre.
5. (mathematics) The preimage of a given point in the range of a map.
   Under this map, any two values in the fibre of a given point on the circle differ by 2π
6. (category theory) Said to be of a morphism over a global element: The pullback of the said morphism along the said global element.
7. (computing) A kind of lightweight thread of execution.
8. (cytology) A long tubular cell found in bodily tissue.