bier

Meaning

Noun

• A litter to transport the corpse of a dead person.
• A platform or stand where a body or coffin is placed.
• A count of forty threads in the warp or chain of woollen cloth.

Origin

• From Middle English beer, beere, bere, from Old English bēr, bǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *bāru, from Proto-Germanic *bērō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.
• Cognate with Saterland Frisian Beere, Dutch baar, German Bahre. More at bear.