name
Meaning 1
A topographic surname from Middle English.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
briar
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /bɹaɪə/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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/ˈbɹaɪɚ/
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rhymes with -aɪə(ɹ)
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CMU ARPABET: B R AY1 ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
A unisex given name from English.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Any of many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters, such as many in the Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax genera.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Anything that is sharp or unpleasant to the feelings.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
Tree heath (Erica arborea), a thorny Mediterranean shrub.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A pipe for smoking, made from the roots of that shrub.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
a pipe made from the root (briarroot) of the tree heath
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: briar pipe
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: pipe, tobacco pipe
noun
Meaning 8
evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: tree heath, brier, Erica arborea
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: erica, true heath
noun
Meaning 9
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
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bullbrier, greenbrier, catbrier, horse brier, horse-brier, brier, Smilax rotundifolia
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: vine
noun
Meaning 10
Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sweetbrier, sweetbriar, brier, eglantine, Rosa eglanteria
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: rose, rosebush
History
Etymology
As a surname Middle English brere (“briar”).
From Middle English brere, from Old English brēr [Old Mercian], brǣr (“briar, bramble”); further origin unknown, perhaps related to Old French bruiere (“heather”) (French bruyère). Compare Old Norse brǫrr (“briar”), whence Icelandic brörr.
From French bruyère, assimilated with Etymology 1, above.
Across languages
Translations
27 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: shqopë e butë — tree heath
- Albanian: mreçë — tree heath
- Albanian: sufër — tree heath
- Basque: txilar zuri — tree heath
- Czech: vřesovec stromovitý — tree heath
- Dutch: boomhei — tree heath
- Finnish: puukanerva — tree heath
- Finnish: puukellokanerva — tree heath
- French: bruyère blanche — tree heath
- French: bruyère arborescente — tree heath
- German: Baumheide — tree heath
- Greek: ερείκη η δενδρώδης (ereíki i dendródis) — tree heath
- Occitan: bruga blanca — tree heath
- Portuguese: urze-molar — tree heath
- Portuguese: betouro — tree heath
- Portuguese: urze-branca — tree heath
- Portuguese: quiroga — tree heath
- Scottish Gaelic: dris — tree heath
- Spanish: brezo arbóreo — tree heath
- Spanish: brezo blanco — tree heath
- Swedish: trädljung — tree heath
- Turkish: ağaç fundası — tree heath
- Welsh: grugwydden grugwydd — tree heath
- Czech: bryerka — pipe
- French: pipe en bruyère — pipe
- German: Bruyère-Pfeife — pipe
- Hungarian: hangagyökér pipa — pipe