| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bier |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  bîr |
| NOUN: | 1. A stand on which a corpse or a coffin containing a corpse is placed before burial. 2. A coffin along with its stand: followed the bier to the cemetery. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Alteration (influenced by French bière, coffin) of Middle English ber, from Old English b r. See bher-1 in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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