Dictionary.com
definitions

briar

1
[brahy-er]
See more synonyms for briar on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. brier1.
Related formsbri·ar·y, adjective

briar

2
[brahy-er]
noun
  1. brier2.

briar

3
[brahy-er]
noun Usually Disparaging.
  1. brier3.

brier

1

or bri·ar

[brahy-er]
noun
  1. a prickly plant or shrub, especially the sweetbrier or a greenbrier.
  2. a tangled mass of prickly plants.
  3. a thorny stem or twig.

Origin of brier

1
before 1000; Middle English brer, Old English brǣr, brēr; akin to bramble
Related formsbri·er·y, adjective

brier

2

or bri·ar

[brahy-er]
noun
  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.

Origin of brier

2
1865–70; earlier bruyer < French bruyère, Old French < Gallo-Latin *brūcāria field of heather, equivalent to *brūc- heather (< Gaulish, perhaps *broiko- (with early L change of oi > ū) < Celtic *wroiko- > Old Irish froech, Welsh grug) + Latin -āria -ary; compare early Medieval Latin brucus, brugaria; see -er2, -ar2

brier

3

or bri·ar

[brahy-er]
noun Usually Disparaging.
  1. (chiefly in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee) a term used to refer to a rustic or hillbilly, especially one from Appalachia.

Origin of brier

3
shortening of brier hopper

Usage note

This term is usually used with disparaging intent to refer to those white people who migrated north and west from Southern Appalachia throughout the first half of the 20th century. These migrants, mostly from eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, were looking for jobs in southeastern Ohio and other places. Brier has negative connotations similar to words such as hillbilly and redneck . But brier has also been used as a term of self-reference by the migrants themselves and their descendants. It is a shortened form of brier hopper/brierhopper (also spelled briar hopper/briarhopper ), probably a reference to the brier bushes found in Southern Appalachia.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for briar

shrubbery, plant, hinterland, scrub, wilderness, jungle, vine, backwoods, outback, hedge, forest, bramble, thicket, brush, creeper, briar, scrubland, chaparral, knob, cut

Examples from the Web for briar

Historical Examples of briar

  • Hips are preferred; at least, the fruit of the briar is the first of the two to disappear.

  • He was yellow with fever, and the hand that filled the briar pipe shook with ague.

    Bones

    Edgar Wallace

  • He followed Sweet Briar River on his way to the meeting of the clans.

    The Later Cave-Men

    Katharine Elizabeth Dopp

  • A briar pipe is made, not from briar, but from the root of heather, Fr.

  • He stared at the bowl of his briar for a moment, then looked up at Cannon.

    Hail to the Chief

    Gordon Randall Garrett

British Dictionary definitions for briar

briar

1

brier

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
Derived Formsbriary or briery, adjective

Word Origin for briar

C19: from French bruyère heath, from Late Latin brūcus, of Gaulish origin

briar

2
noun
  1. a variant spelling of brier 1

brier

1

briar

noun
  1. any of various thorny shrubs or other plants, such as the sweetbrier and greenbrier
Derived Formsbriery or briary, adjective

Word Origin for brier

Old English brēr, brǣr, of obscure origin

brier

2
noun
  1. a variant spelling of briar 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for briar
n.

see brier (n.1).

brier

n.1

"thorny shrub, heath," 1540s, variant of Middle English brere, from Old English brer (Anglian), brær (West Saxon) "brier, bramble, prickly bush," 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-Romance *brucaria, from *brucus "heather," from Gaulish (cf. Breton brug "heath," Old Irish froech). Form altered in English by influence of brier (n.1).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper