Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Brier

Bri′er, Bri′ar, n. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brēr, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.] 1. A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax.

2. Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings.

The thorns and briers of reproof. Cowper.

Brier root, the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and S. Walteri; — used for tobacco pipes. — Cat brier, Green brier, several species of Smilax (S. rotundifolia, etc.) — Sweet brier (Rosa rubiginosa). See Sweetbrier. - - Yellow brier, the Rosa Eglantina.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.