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

2a : 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