1. m. [O. H. G. pior or bior; Low Germ. and mod. Germ. bier; Fris. biar; A. S. bior; Engl. beer], no doubt a word of German extraction, öl (öldr), ale, being the familiar word used in prose:—bjór hardly ever occurs, vide however Hkr. iii. 447, Bk. 48, 89, 96 (Norse); and is a foreign word, as is indicated even by the expression in the Alvismál—öl heitir með mönnum, en með Ásum bjór, ale it is called by men, by gods beer: bjór however is very current in poetry, but the more popular poems, such as the Hávamál, only speak of öl or öldr, Hm. 11, 13, 65, 80, 132, 138.

2. m. [Lat. fiber; A. S. beofar], a beaver, esp. the beaver’s skin, Eg. 71, in the phrase, b. ok savali.

2. a triangular cut off piece of skin, [cp. provincial Swed. bjaur]; þat eru bjórar þeir er menn sníða ór skóm sínum fyrir tám eðr hael, Edda 42; still used in Icel. in that sense.

II. metaph. a small piece of land (an απ. λεγ. as it seems); bjór lá ónuminn fyrir austan Fljót, Landn. 284.

3. m., must be different from the preceding word, synonymous with brjóstþili, a wall in a house, a party wall, but also in the 13th and 14th centuries freq. a costly tapestry used in halls at festivals and in churches; hrindum hallar bjóri, let us break down the wall of the hall, Hálfs S. Fas. ii. (in a verse); eingi var bjórrinn milli húsanna, there was no partition between the houses, Sturl. iii. 177; gengu þeir í stofuna, var hón vel tjölduð ok upp settir bjórar, 229; annarr hlutrinn stökk útar í bjórinn, svá at þar varð fastr, Háv. 40.

β. of a movable screen between choir and nave, of cloth or costly stuff, different from tjöld (hangings) and reflar; hann lét Atla prest penta allt ræfr innan, ok svá allan bjórinn, Bs. i. 132; kirkja á tjöld umhverfis sik með tvennum bjórum, Vm. 153; kirkja tjölduð sæmiligum tjöldum ok þrír bjórar, 171, D. I. i. 402; bjórr framan um kór, tjöld um alla kirkju, Pm. 103; b. slitinn blámerktr yfir altari, 108, Bs. ii. 476, 322; vide bjórþili.