brier

bri·er ¹

also bri·ar  (brī′ər)

n.

Any of several prickly plants, such as certain rosebushes or the greenbrier.

---

[Middle English brer, from Old English brēr.]

---

bri′er·y adj.

---

bri·er ²

 (brī′ər)

n.

Variant of briar¹.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

brier

(ˈbraɪə) or

briar

n

(Plants) any of various thorny shrubs or other plants, such as the sweetbrier and greenbrier

[Old English brēr, brǣr, of obscure origin]

ˈbriery, ˈbriary adj

---

brier

(ˈbraɪə)

n

(Plants) a variant spelling of briar¹

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bri•er¹

or bri•ar

(ˈbraɪ ər)

n.

1. a prickly plant or shrub, esp. the sweetbrier or a catbrier.

2. a tangled mass of prickly plants.

3. a thorny stem or twig.

[before 1000; Middle English brer]

bri′er•y, adj.

bri•er²

or bri•ar

(ˈbraɪ ər)

n.

1. the white heath, Erica arborea, of France and Corsica, the woody root of which is used for making tobacco pipes.

2. a pipe made of brierroot.

[1865–70; earlier bruyer < French bruyère, Old French < Gallo-Latin *brūcāria, derivative of *brūc- heather]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	brier - tangled mass of prickly plants brier patch, brierpatch botany, flora, vegetation - all the plant life in a particular region or period; "Pleistocene vegetation"; "the flora of southern California"; "the botany of China"
	2.	brier - a thorny stem or twig branchlet, sprig, twig - a small branch or division of a branch (especially a terminal division); usually applied to branches of the current or preceding year
	3.	brier - Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips briar, eglantine, Rosa eglanteria, sweetbriar, sweetbrier rose, rosebush - any of many shrubs of the genus Rosa that bear roses
	4.	brier - a very prickly woody vine of the eastern United States growing in tangled masses having tough round stems with shiny leathery leaves and small greenish flowers followed by clusters of inedible shiny black berries bullbrier, catbrier, greenbrier, horse brier, horse-brier, Smilax rotundifolia, briar genus Smilax, Smilax - sometimes placed in Smilacaceae vine - a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface
	5.	brier - evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes Erica arborea, tree heath, briar erica, true heath - any plant of the genus Erica briarroot - hard woody root of the briar Erica arborea

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

Translations

brier

n

(= wild rose) → wilde Rose; (= bramble runner) → Ranke f; (= thorny bush) → Dornbusch m

= briar a

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007