bier

as in coffin
a boxlike container for holding a dead body lifted the bier from its stand and placed it in the hearse for its final journey

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bier While lying in state, the coffin was placed not on an elevated bier, but facing the pews. Rachel Treisman, NPR, 25 Apr. 2025 Inside the 16th-century basilica, his casket won't be put on an elevated bier—as was the case with past popes—but will just be placed on the main alta, simply facing the pews. Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Apr. 2025 Last year, Francis approved new funeral rites stating his body should be on view in a simple coffin rather than being placed on an elevated bier, per the Associated Press. Kirsty Hatcher, People.com, 22 Apr. 2025 But, under the new funeral structure, the pope will be laid directly into an open coffin, eliminating the use of the bier. Alec Schemmel, FOXNews.com, 21 Apr. 2025 The German microbrewery/restaurant has installed new TVs in its bier hall and at the bar for your viewing pleasure. Sam Allard, Axios, 7 Feb. 2025 The Senate may well have all been murdered on Lucilla’s weird, theater-y funeral bier. Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 22 Nov. 2024 Among the changes, the new rites eliminate the practice of placing the pope on an elevated bier in St. Peter's Basilica for public viewing. Matt Robison, Newsweek, 20 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bier
Noun
  • Two coffins are also displayed on either side of the gallows, which sits beneath a second, larger Mexican flag, according to FNTV.
    Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 26 Sep. 2025
  • The waterless Wadi Hammamat between the Nile and the Red Sea was quarried for the siltstone formed from ancient river sediment that had hardened over millions of years to provide a limitless supply of stone coffins (sarcophagi).
    Vanessa Taylor, Big Think, 25 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The funeral was closed casket—an uncommon thing for Catholics back then—because my mother did not want people to see the work the undertakers had to do to stitch my father back together.
    Jon Michael Varese, The Atlantic, 28 Sep. 2025
  • The video for the song features HARDY singing while lying in a casket in the ground— imagery that isn’t entirely foreign to him.
    Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 26 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Archaeologists in southern Spain have uncovered one of Andalusia’s most monumental and best-preserved prehistoric dolmens, or tombs.
    Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 27 Sep. 2025
  • Searching for Cleopatra’s tomb The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said last December in a social media post that Martínez and her team also made new discoveries beneath the southern wall of the Taposiris Magna’s outer enclosure.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Bier.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bier. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

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