Briar

//ˈbɹaɪɚ// name, noun

name, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters, such as many in the Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax genera.

    "Youngthes folke now flocken in every where, To gather May-buskets and smelling brere"

  2. 2
    White heath (Erica arborea), a thorny Mediterranean shrub.
  3. 3
    a pipe made from the root (briarroot) of the tree heath wordnet
  4. 4
    Anything that is sharp or unpleasant to the feelings. figuratively

    "¶ And thou ſonne of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their wordes, though bryars and thornes be with thee, and thou doeſt dwell among ſcorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be diſmayed at their lookes, though they be a rebellious houſe."

  5. 5
    A pipe for smoking, made from the roots of that shrub.

    "Then he put the insulted pipe in his pocket, corked himself up with the immense briar, and sneered at Cripps over the top of it."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes wordnet
  2. 7
    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 wordnet
  3. 8
    Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A topographic surname from Middle English.
  2. 2
    A unisex given name from English.

Synonyms

All synonyms
adherentadhesivebarnaclebramblebriar pipebrier

Example

More examples

"This smoking pipe is made from briar root."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English brere, from Old English brēr [Old Mercian], brǣr (“briar, bramble”); further origin unknown, perhaps related to Old French bruiere (“heather”) (French bruyère). Compare Old Norse brǫrr (“briar”), whence Icelandic brörr.

Etymology 2

From French bruyère, assimilated with Etymology 1, above.

Etymology 3

As a surname Middle English brere (“briar”).

Related phrases

Briar Hillbriar-patchbriar-pipebriar-rootgrin like a mule eating briarssmile like a mule eating briarssweet briarsweet-briarwhite heath

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.