Etymology The adjective is from brine (noun) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’). The noun is from the adjective.
1
Of, relating to, resembling, or containing brine (“water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt”), such as seawater or tears; salty.
on the briny deep
And, vvhat the famous Flood farre more then that enriches, / That bracky Fountaines are, thoſe tvvo renovvned VVyches, / The Nant-vvyche, and the North, vvhoſe either brynie VVell, / For ſtore and ſorts of Salts, make VVeeuer to excell.1612, Michael Drayton, “The Eleuenth Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 172:
4 more examples
So may thy Silver Streams beneath the Tide, / Unmix'd vvith briny Seas, ſecurely glide.1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Pastoral. Or, Gallus.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 45, lines 6–7:
The King amidſt the mournful Circle roſe; / Dovvn his vvan Cheek a briny Torrent flovvs; […]1717, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book IX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 4, lines 17–18:
The briny Stream their roſy Cheeks beſmear'd, / VVhilſt they in Clouds of Vapours diſappear'd.1720, Allan Ramsay, “Content. A Poem.”, in Poems, 3rd edition, Edinburgh: Printed for the author […] [and sold by T. Jauncy […]], →OCLC, page 154:
[T]he sea was a region where every fable and prodigy of the ancients still existed: the briniest old Triton that ever gulled the marines, with his tongue in his cheek and his weather-eye winking, or the sharpest young reefer that ever astonished a tea-party after his first voyage, couldn't have strung together a more surprising set of incidents.1851 July, “The Peaceful Lieutenant and His Friends. A Three Hours’ Platonic Gossip. Hour III. Concerning Sundry Passages in the Lieutenant’s Own History; and the Strange Legend of His (Supposed) Grandfather.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume LXX, number CCCCXXIX, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 52, column 1:
2
Figuratively Of a person: difficult to get along with or to like; acerbic, prickly, unlikable.
[Julian] Barnes wrote "Nothing to Be Frightened Of" when he was 62. He just turned 80. This briny English writer, author of "Flaubert's Parrot" (1984) and a winner of the Booker Prize, for "The Sense of an Ending" (2011), now has a rare form of blood cancer, treatable but exhausting and uncurable.2026 January 19, Dwight Garner, “A briny Englishman (and Booker Prize winner) says farewell”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2026:
"[…] [H]e was seen at t'other side of the briny, this morning." / "In France, Sir?"—continued Martha, clasping her hands.1831, [John Banim], The Smuggler; a Tale. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 40:
That afternoon Mr Slater had been for what he termed "a blow of the briny," as his custom was on a fine day. He was returning in the dusk and had crossed the spacious promenade when, at a corner, he almost ran into the broad figure of a policeman who stood talking to a woman on the path.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “The Kingsmouth Spy Case”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1924, →OCLC, page 312:
1 more example
I thought I would go to the sea and shrink down very tiny / And slide inside the telephone wire that runs under the briny1979, Elvis Costello, “Crawling to the U.S.A.”, in Americathon: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, performed by Elvis Costello, New York, N.Y.: Lorimar Records, →OCLC:
briny
adj
Etymology Origin uncertain, possibly from Middle English brine (“act of burning; fire”, noun), from Old English bryne (“act of burning; fire, flame; heat”), from Proto-Germanic *bruniz (“act of burning; fire”), from *brinnaną (“to be on fire, burn”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”).
1
Archaic, Obsolete Especially of the sea: phosphorescent, shining.
[S]omevvhat before a tempeſt, if the ſea-vvater bee flaſhed vvith a ſticke or Oare, the ſame caſteth a bright ſhining colour, and the drops thereof reſemble ſparekles of fire, as if the vvaues vvere turned into flames, vvhich the Saylers terms Briny.[1609, Richard Carew, “The First Booke”, in The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC, folio 26, verso: