brier

noun

bri·​er

less common spelling of briar

1
: a plant (such as a rose, blackberry, or greenbrier) having a usually woody and thorny or prickly stem
a thicket of briars
… head up an almost invisible trail along the left bank, through young pines and briars.Robert F. Jones
see also briar patch
2
a
: a mass of briars
… threading his way with perfect skill between tree-trunks, jumping over bush and briar and the smaller streams …C. S. Lewis
… volunteers methodically searching through the briar and trees …Roy Bragg
b
: a branch or twig of a briar
With my pair of brush cutters that I always carried I cut away enough of the long briars to provide an opening for me to sit comfortably in.Jean Solbert

Examples of brier in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Straight uphill, twisted chest-high grass mixed with briers and field burrs. Eric Church, Field & Stream, 5 June 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brier.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Brier.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brier. Accessed 17 Jun. 2024.

Kids Definition

brier

variant of briar

More from Merriam-Webster on brier

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