Small piece of hair or chemosensory cell in the intestinal tract lining

noun

1. A small cluster of elongated flexible outgrowths attached or close together at the base and free at the opposite ends
2. A bunch of soft fluffy threads cut off short and used as ornament
3. Clump, cluster
4. Mound
5. Any of the projections of yarns drawn through a fabric or making up a fabric so as to produce a surface of raised loops or cut pile

verb

1. To provide or adorn with a tuft
2. To make (a fabric) of or with tufts
3. To make (something, such as a mattress) firm by stitching at intervals and covering the depressions produced on the surface with tufts
4. To form into or grow in tufts