Category:Brier

Bri"er, Bri"ar, n. Etym: [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; 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. Walleri; -- 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.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Brier - This word occurs frequently, and is the translation of several different terms.

(1.) Micah 7:4, it denotes a species of thorn shrub used for hedges. In Proverbs 15:19 the word is rendered "thorn" (Heb. hedek, "stinging"), supposed by some to be what is called the "apple of Sodom" (q.v.).

(2.) Ezekiel 28:24, sallon, properly a "prickle," such as is found on the shoots of the palm tree.

(3.) Isaiah 55:13, probably simply a thorny bush. Some, following the Vulgate Version, regard it as the "nettle."

(4.) Isaiah 5:6; Isaiah 7:23, etc., frequently used to denote thorny shrubs in general. In Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 27:4, it means troublesome men.

(5.) In Hebrews 6:8 the Greek word ( tribolos ) so rendered means "three-pronged," and denotes the land caltrop, a low thorny shrub resembling in its spikes the military "crow-foot." Compare Matthew 7:16, "thistle."