brier

UK: /ˈbraɪə/ US: /ˈbraɪɚ/ ,(brī′ər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

bri•er¹ or bri•ar /ˈbraɪɚ/   n. 

1. Plant Biology [countable] a plant or shrub that is prickly and has thorny stems.
2. Plant Biology a tangled mass of prickly plants:
   [uncountable] We heard the animals crashing through the brier.

bri•er² or bri•ar /ˈbraɪɚ/   n. [countable]

1. Plant Biology a type of plant, the white heath, with a woody root which is used for making tobacco pipes.
2. a pipe made of this.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

bri•er¹  (brī′ər), n. 

1. Plant Biology a prickly plant or shrub, esp. the sweetbrier or a greenbrier.
2. Plant Biology a tangled mass of prickly plants.
3. Plant Biology a thorny stem or twig.

Also, briar. 

• bef. 1000; Middle English brer, Old English brǣr, brēr; akin to bramble

bri′er•y, adj. 

bri•er²  (brī′ər), n. 

1. Plant Biology 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.

Also, briar. 

• Celtic *wroiko- Old Irish froech, Welsh grug) + Latin -āria -ary; compare early Medieval Latin brucus, brugaria; see -er², -ar²
• Gaulish, perh. *broiko- (with early Latin change of oi ū)
• Gallo-Latin *brūcāria field of heather, equivalent to *brūc- heather (
• French bruyère, Old French
• earlier bruyer 1865–70

bri•er³  (brī′ər), n. [Usually Disparaging.]

1. Dialect Terms (chiefly in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee) a rustic or hillbilly, esp. one from Appalachia.

• shortening of brier hopper

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

brier, briar / ˈbraɪə/ noun

1. any of various thorny shrubs or other plants, such as the sweetbrier and greenbrier

Etymology: Old English brēr, brǣr, of obscure origin

ˈbriery, ˈbriary adjective

brier / ˈbraɪə/ noun

1. a variant spelling of briar1

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

bri•ar /ˈbraɪɚ/   n. 

1. Plant Biology brier.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

bri•ar¹  (brī′ər), n. 

1. Plant Biology brier¹.

bri′ar•y, adj. 

bri•ar²  (brī′ər), n. 

1. Plant Biology brier².

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

briar, brier / ˈbraɪə/ noun

1. Also called: tree heath an ericaceous shrub, Erica arborea, of S Europe, having a hard woody root (briarroot)
2. a tobacco pipe made from the root of this plant

Etymology: 19th Century: from French bruyère heath, from Late Latin brūcus, of Gaulish origin

ˈbriary, ˈbriery adjective

briar / ˈbraɪə/ noun

1. a variant spelling of brier1