bier

[beer] /bɪər/
noun
1.
a frame or stand on which a corpse or the coffin containing it is laid before burial.
2.
such a stand together with the corpse or coffin.
Origin
before 900; Middle English bere, Old English bēr, bǣr(e); cognate with Old High German bāra (German Bahre), Dutch, Danish baar, Swedish bår; spelling influenced by French bière; akin to bear1, barrow1
Can be confused
beer, bier.
Examples from the web for bier
  • They laid her upon a bier, and all seven of them sat round it and wept for her, and wept three days long.
British Dictionary definitions for bier

bier

/bɪə/
noun
1.
a platform or stand on which a corpse or a coffin containing a corpse rests before burial
Word Origin
Old English bǣr; related to beran to bear1, Old High German bāra bier, Sanskrit bhārá a burden
Word Origin and History for bier
n.

Old English bær (West Saxon), ber (Anglian) "handbarrow, litter, bed," from West Germanic *bero (cf. Old Saxon, Old High German bara, Old Frisian bere, Middle Dutch bare, Dutch baar, German Bahre "bier"), from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry; to bear children," and thus related to the Old English verb beran "to bear" (see bear (v.)), making a bier etymologically anything used for carrying, only later limited to funerary sense. Since c.1600, spelling influenced by French bière, from Old French biere, from Frankish *bera, from the same Germanic root.

bier in the Bible

the frame on which dead bodies were conveyed to the grave (Luke 7:14).