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

Kids Definition

brier

variant of briar