Definition of "briery"

All these species are climbing, briery plants, having long slender roots, which proceed in all directions from a common rootstalk or rhizome.

1868, George Bacon Wood, A Treatise on Therapeutics, and Pharmacology, Or Materia Medica, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Company, page 432

But Mrs. McCain is clearly not interested in having her husband take a beating at the expense of his family or enduring accusations about his briery temperament.

2007 June 29, Jennifer Steinhauer, “Mrs. McCain, Demure in 2000, Is Speaking Up in a Steely Tone”, in New York Times‎