bier

American  

[beer] / bɪər /

noun

1. a frame or stand on which a corpse or the coffin containing it is laid before burial.

2. such a stand together with the corpse or coffin.

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bier British  

/ bɪə /

noun

1. a platform or stand on which a corpse or a coffin containing a corpse rests before burial

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Etymology

Origin of bier

before 900; Middle English bere, Old English bēr, bǣr ( e ); cognate with Old High German bāra ( German Bahre ), Dutch, Danish baar, Swedish bår; spelling influenced by French bière; akin to bear ¹, barrow ¹

Example Sentences

The solemn processions, with the flower-adorned biers followed by the clergy and the faithful, are often spectacular, especially in places where bier processions from each parish converge into a central square.

From Seattle Times

In Rafah, in the south, men strode behind a body being carried on a bier, Palestinian and Hamas flags raised behind.

From Reuters

She was cremated, and her ashes were taken on a “flower-decked bier” to Red Square during a funeral tribute, according to Associated Press accounts at the time.

From Washington Times

“I owe him a lot and this for me was really a gift to be able to pray for an hour on his bier.”

From Seattle Times

As of Tuesday night, about 135,000 people had filed past the former pope, who has been lying in state without any papal regalia on a catafalque, a raised bier, before the basilica's main altar.

From Reuters