Adjacent Words

Briar definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BRIAR, [See Brier.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips [syn: sweetbrier, sweetbriar, brier, briar, eglantine, Rosa eglanteria]
2: 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 [syn: bullbrier, greenbrier, catbrier, horse brier, horse-brier, brier, briar, Smilax rotundifolia]
3: evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes [syn: tree heath, briar, brier, Erica arborea]
4: a pipe made from the root (briarroot) of the tree heath [syn: briar, briar pipe]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun also brier Etymology: Middle English brere, from Old English br?r Date: 15th century a plant (as a rose, blackberry, or greenbrier) having a usually woody and thorny or prickly stem; also a mass or twig of these • briary adjective II. noun Etymology: short for briar pipe, from briar wood of the European heath, from French bruyère heath, from Middle French bruiere, from Vulgar Latin *brucaria, from Late Latin brucus heather, of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish froech heather; akin to Greek ereik? heather Date: 1882 a tobacco pipe made from the root or stem of a European heath (Erica arborea)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. var. of BRIER(1). 2. var. of BRIER(2).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Briar Bri"ar, n. Same as Brier.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Brier Bri"er, Briar Bri"ar, n. [OE. brere, brer, AS. br[=e]r, br[ae]r; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.] 1. A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. 2. Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings. The thorns and briers of reproof. --Cowper. Brier root, the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and S. Walteri; -- used for tobacco pipes. Cat brier, Green brier, several species of Smilax (S. rotundifolia, etc.) Sweet brier (Rosa rubiginosa). See Sweetbrier. Yellow brier, the Rosa Eglantina.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(briars) A briar is a wild rose with long, prickly stems. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

adherent, adhesive, barnacle, bramble, brier, brier bush, bristle, bulldog, burr, bush, cactus, catchweed, cement, cleavers, decal, decalcomania, glue, goose grass, gunk, leech, limpet, molasses, mucilage, needle, nettle, paste, pine needle, plaster, prickle, quill, remora, scrub, shrub, shrubbery, spicule, spiculum, spike, spikelet, spine, sticker, syrup, thistle, thorn, yucca