Hypertext Webster Gateway: "briar"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Briar \Bri"ar\, n.
Same as {Brier}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Brier \Bri"er\, Briar \Bri"ar\, n. [OE. brere, brer, AS.
br[=e]r, br[ae]r; 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}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
briar
n 1: Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and
bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips [syn: {sweetbrier},
{sweetbriar}, {brier}, {eglantine}, {Rosa eglanteria}]
2: a very prickly woody vine of the eastern United States
growing in tangled masses having tough round stems with
shiny leathery leaves and small greenish flowers followed
by clusters of inedible shiny black berries [syn: {bullbrier},
{greenbrier}, {catbrier}, {horsebrier}, {brier}, {Smilax
rotundifolia}]
3: evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white
flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots
used to make tobacco pipes [syn: {tree heath}, {brier}, {Erica
arborea}]
4: a pipe made from the root (briarroot) of the tree heath
[syn: {briar pipe}]
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