Definition of "terete" []

• Cylindrical but usually slightly tapering at both ends, circular in cross section, and smooth-surfaced. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A 1651 edition of Hernández included a carefully drawn figure and a Latin description that in its wording seemed positively modern: Ololiuqui, which some call coaxihuitl, or snake plant, is a twining herb with thin, green cordate leaves, slender green terete stems, and long white flowers."
• "Joints 1½ in. to 3 in. long, and a little less in width, terete, with very prominent tubercles and numerous tawny bristles; upper spines 1 in. to 1½ in. long, white, with a yellow point, shorter ones hair-like and curled."
• "-- A well-marked species in the size of its mammae, or tubercles, which are at least 1 in. long by 1/3 in. in diameter, terete, slightly curved, and narrowed to a pointed apex, the texture being very soft and watery."