Briar-root Pipe
Preserved but no longer current.
A tobacco-pipe made from the root-wood of the large heath (bruyere), which grows in the south of France. Bribery and Corruption is a phrase often used rather loosely in English. In English law a bribe is a gift or other material inducement held out to a person to betray a trust or duty. Bribing at an election is a very serious offence, of which briber and bribed are held to be equally guilty.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Briar-root Pipe” mean?
A tobacco-pipe made from the root-wood of the large heath (bruyere), which grows in the south of France. Bribery and Corruption is a phrase often used rather loosely in English. In English law a bribe is a gift or other material inducement held out to a person to betray a trust or duty. Bribing at an election is a very serious offence, of which briber and bribed are held to be equally guilty.
Is “Briar-root Pipe” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.