Heath vs Briar - What's the difference?

As a proper noun heath

is .

As a noun briar is

any of many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters, such as many in the rosa, rubus'', and ''smilax genera or briar can be the white heath,.

heath

English

(wikipedia heath)

Noun

A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.

* ~1602 , William Shakespeare, Macbeth , Act I, scene I:

*:1. Where the place?/2. Vpon the Heath /3. There to meet with Macbeth

Any small evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae .

* 1974 , (GB Edwards), The Book of Ebenezer Le Page , New York 2007, p. 258:

There was nobody living in Jim's old house, and some of the windows was broken; but there was heath growing back and front.

# Many of the species in the genus Erica

# Many of the species in the genus Cassiope

# Both species in the genus

# Any of the species in the genus

(label) Certain butterflies and moths

# The palaearctic species of Coenonympha , a genus of brush-footed butterfly

## , native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and Northern Africa, the small heath

## , native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and North America, the large heath

# , the heath fritillary

Usage notes

* The word heaths may describe multiple disconnected heathlands.

Synonyms

* heather

Anagrams

briar

English

(wikipedia briar) (Erica arborea)

Alternative forms

* brier

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

Any of many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters, such as many in the Rosa, Rubus'', and ''Smilax genera.

, a thorny Mediterranean shrub.

A pipe for smoking, made from the roots of that shrub.

(figurative) Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings.

* (rfdate) (Cowper)

The thorns and briers of reproof.

Derived terms

* briar-patch

Etymology 2

From (etyl) , assimilated with Etymology 1, above.

Noun

(en noun)

The white heath, .

A pipe made from the root of this plant.

Derived terms

* briar-pipe