BRIAR • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Briar

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/brˈaɪər/ Listen

noun

Briar n. Same as Brier.

Briar, Brier n.

A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax.

Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings. "The thorns and briers of reproof."

Brier root, the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and Smilax Walteri; used for tobacco pipes. See also 2nd brier.

Cat brier, Green brier, several species of Smilax (Smilax rotundifolia, etc.)

Sweet brier (Rosa rubiginosa). See Sweetbrier.

Yellow brier, the Rosa Eglantina.

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Etymology of 'Briar'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Briar" Quotes from Famous Books

... green with briar, From their sand the conies creep; And all the birds that fly in heaven ...

— A Cluster of Grapes - A Book of Twentieth Century Poetry • Various

... knew Como and Villa D'Este as the place where that pretty Hungarian widow had borrowed a thousand lires from him at the Casino roulette table and never paid him back; London as a pleasing potpourri of briar pipes, smart leather gloves, music-hall revues, and night clubs; Berlin as a rather stuffy hole where they tried to ape Paris and failed, but you had to hand it to Charlotte when it came to the skating at the Eis Palast. A pleasing existence, but unprofitable. No one saw the cloud gathering because ...

— Gigolo • Edna Ferber

... estate we stumbled quite by accident into Dark Forest, vaguely hinted at by the negroes as a place to be avoided. This Dark Forest is a large tract of scrub oak, birch and holly, with dense undergrowths of briar; the haunt of innumerable small birds that dart in and out, chirping faintly. In its depressed portions the 'forest' has degenerated into a marsh through which a sluggish stream wends it way to the distant ...

— The Statesmen Snowbound • Robert Fitzgerald

... knelt a weary figure in a soiled and sun-bleached garment of doeskin, its glittering plastron of bright beads broken here and there, the ragged ends of sinews hanging as they were left by briar and branch, and the haggard eyes went with eager swiftness to the stockade standing in its grim ...

— The Maid of the Whispering Hills • Vingie E. Roe

... best o' the world for cunning and sweet wit; And what sweet fool but her sweet knight, God help! To serve her with that three-inch wit of his? She is all fool and fiddling now; for me, I am well-pleased; God knows, if I might choose I would not be more troubled with her love. Her love is like a briar that rasps the flesh, And yours is soft like flowers. Come this way, love; So, further in this ...

— Chastelard, a Tragedy • Algernon Charles Swinburne

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