brier

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A prickly plant or shrub in general; specifically, the sweetbrier or the green-brier (which see). Also spelled briar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun the white heath Erica arborea.
• noun a smoking pipe made of the root of the brier{1}.
• noun A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax.
• noun Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings.
• noun the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and Smilax Walteri; -- used for tobacco pipes. See also 2nd brier.
• noun several species of Smilax (Smilax rotundifolia, etc.)
• noun See Sweetbrier.
• noun the Rosa Eglantina.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A thorny Mediterranean shrub.
• noun A pipe made from the roots of that shrub.
• noun figuratively Any unpleasantry in general.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun tangled mass of prickly plants
• noun Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips
• noun evergreen treelike Mediterranean shrub having fragrant white flowers in large terminal panicles and hard woody roots used to make tobacco pipes
• noun 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
• noun a thorny stem or twig