briar
1
[ brahy-er ]
/ ˈbraɪ ər /
noun
OTHER WORDS FROM briar
bri·ar·y, adjectiveWords nearby briar
brezhnev doctrine,
brezhnev, leonid,
brian,
brian boru,
briand,
briar,
briard,
briareus,
briarroot,
briarwood,
bribe
Definition for briar (2 of 6)
Definition for briar (3 of 6)
Definition for briar (4 of 6)
brier
1
or bri·ar
[ brahy-er ]
/ ˈbraɪ ər /
noun
a prickly plant or shrub, especially the sweetbrier or a greenbrier.
a tangled mass of prickly plants.
a thorny stem or twig.
Origin of brier
1OTHER WORDS FROM brier
bri·er·y, adjectiveDefinition for briar (5 of 6)
brier
2
or bri·ar
[ brahy-er ]
/ ˈbraɪ ər /
noun
the white heath, Erica arborea, of France and Corsica, the woody root of which is used for making tobacco pipes.
a pipe made of brierroot.
Origin of brier
2
1865–70; earlier
bruyer < French
bruyère, Old French < Gallo-Latin
*brūcāria field of heather, equivalent to
*brūc- heather (< Gaulish, perhaps
*broiko- (with early L change of
oi >
ū) < Celtic
*wroiko- > Old Irish
froech, Welsh
grug) + Latin
-āria
-ary; compare early Medieval Latin
brucus, brugaria; see
-er2,
-ar2
Definition for briar (6 of 6)
brier
3
or bri·ar
[ brahy-er ]
/ ˈbraɪ ər /
noun Usually Disparaging.
(chiefly in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee) a term used to refer to a rustic or hillbilly, especially one from Appalachia.
Origin of brier
3
shortening of
brier hopper
usage note for brier
This term is usually used with disparaging intent to refer to those white people who migrated north and west from Southern Appalachia throughout the first half of the 20th century. These migrants, mostly from eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, were looking for jobs in southeastern Ohio and other places.
Brier has negative connotations similar to words such as
hillbilly and
redneck . But
brier has also been used as a term of self-reference by the migrants themselves and their descendants. It is a shortened form of
brier hopper/brierhopper (also spelled
briar hopper/briarhopper ), probably a reference to the brier bushes found in Southern Appalachia.
Example sentences from the Web for briar
British Dictionary definitions for briar (1 of 4)
briar
1
brier
/ (ˈbraɪə) /
noun
Also called: tree heath
an ericaceous shrub, Erica arborea, of S Europe, having a hard woody root (briarroot)
a tobacco pipe made from the root of this plant
Derived forms of briar
briary or briery, adjectiveWord Origin for briar
C19: from French
bruyère heath, from Late Latin
brūcus, of Gaulish origin
British Dictionary definitions for briar (2 of 4)
British Dictionary definitions for briar (3 of 4)
brier
1
briar
/ (ˈbraɪə) /
noun
any of various thorny shrubs or other plants, such as the sweetbrier and greenbrier
Derived forms of brier
briery or briary, adjectiveWord Origin for brier
Old English
brēr,
brǣr, of obscure origin