ALL meanings of brier
bri·er
B b - noun brier any of various thorny shrubs or other plants, such as the sweetbrier and greenbrier 3
- noun brier any prickly or thorny bush, as a bramble or wild rose 3
- noun brier a growth of such bushes 3
- noun brier a twig of a brier 3
- noun brier an evergreen shrub or tree (Erica arborea) of the heath family, native to S Europe, with needlelike leaves and white flowers 3
- noun brier its root, esp. the root burl, often used to make tobacco pipes 3
- noun brier briar2 (sense 1) 3
- noun 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. 1
- noun brier (chiefly in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee) a term used to refer to a rustic or hillbilly, especially one from Appalachia. 1
- noun brier thorny plant 1