brier
pronunciation
How to pronounce brier in British English:
UK [ˈbraiə]
How to pronounce brier in American English:
US [ˈbraɪɚ]
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- Noun:
- tangled mass of prickly plants
- a thorny stem or twig
- Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips
- 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
- evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes
Word Origin
- brier (n.1)
- "thorny shrub, heath," 1540s, variant of Middle English brere, from Old English brer (Anglian), brær (West Saxon) "brier, bramble, prickly bush," which is of unknown origin. Briar is the most recent variant (c. 1600). Originally used of prickly, thorny bushes in general, now mostly restricted to wild rose bushes. Used figuratively (in plural) for "troubles" from c. 1500.
- brier (n.2)
- type of tobacco pipe introduced to England c. 1859 and made from the root of a certain shrub, 1868, from French bruyère "heath plant," from Old French bruiere "heather, briar, heathland, moor" (12c.), from Gallo-Roman *brucaria, from *brucus "heather," from Gaulish (compare Breton brug "heath," Old Irish froech). Form altered in English by influence of brier (n.1).
Example
- 1. Can you give me a brier instruction ?
- 2. Roses graft well on brier roots .
- 3. University of phoenix , raleigh campus - brier creek learning center .
- 4. Saskatchewan skip darrell mckee delivers ashot against new brunswick at the brier curling championships in halifax march 7 .