bryony

American  

[brahy-uh-nee] / ˈbraɪ ə ni /

Or briony

noun

bryonies plural

1. any Old World vine or climbing plant belonging to the genus Bryonia, of the gourd family, yielding acrid juice having emetic and purgative properties.

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bryony British  

/ ˈbraɪənɪ /

noun

1. any of several herbaceous climbing plants of the cucurbitaceous genus Bryonia , of Europe and N Africa See also black bryony white bryony

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bryonies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bryony

before 1000; Middle English brionie, Old English bryōnia < Latin < Greek: a wild vine

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bryony bryonies

The ditch was thick with cow parsley, hemlock and long trails of green-flowering bryony.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

They were coming to a thicket of juniper and dog roses, tangled at ground level with nettles and trails of bryony on which the berries were now beginning to ripen and turn red.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

Larger berries—some red, some green, on the same bunch—cluster on the vines of the bryony.

From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard

The white bryony, whose leaf is not unlike that of the grape, has a magical reputation, and the cottage folk believe its root to be a powerful ingredient in love potions, and also poisonous.

From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard

The black bryony, or Tamus, is called black bindweed, and the Smilax aspera, rough bindweed.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah

The stem of one of the bryonies withers up so completely that the shrinkage, aided by a little wind, snaps it.

From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard

The number of different kinds of bushes in the hedgerows, entwined by traveller's joy and the bryonies, is conspicuous compared with the hedges of the northern counties.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 by Darwin, Francis, Sir