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.

[Alteration (influenced by French bière, coffin) of Middle English ber, from Old English bēr.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.