Search the Dictionary

Short in duration. How brief the life of man. Shak.

Having no brief; without clients; as, a briefless barrister.

Concisely; in few words.

One who makes a brief.

The quality of being brief; brevity; conciseness in discourse or writing.

Same as Sea letter.

A semibreve. [R.]

To make briefer; to shorten; to abridge; to reduce by contraction or omission, especially of words written or spoken. It is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off. Bacon.

gs. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief. An abstract of every treatise he had read. Watts. Man, the abstract Of all perfection, which the workmanship Of Heaven hath modeled. Ford.

t; as, the enemy had the advantage of a more elevated position. Give me advantage of some brief discourse. Shak. The advantages of a close alliance. Macaulay.

Not contracted of brief; not concise; extended; diffusive; as, an ample narrative. Johnson.

A brief, methodical illustration of the principles of a science. In this sense it is nearly synonymous with synopsis.

Hence, a brief or detached view; conspectus; sketch.

A brief letter dimissory sent by a court appealed from to the superior court, stating the case, etc.; a paper sent up on appeals in the admiralty courts. Wharton. Burrill. Apostles' creed, a creed of unknown origin, which was formerly ascribed to the apostles. It certainly dates back to the beginning of the sixth centu…

Of or pertaining to the pope or the papacy; papal. Apostolical brief. See under Brief. -- Apostolic canons, a collection of rules and precepts relating to the duty of Christians, and particularly to the ceremonies and discipline of the church in the second and third centuries. -- Apostolic church, the Christian churc…

nder arrest. Macaulay. [Our brother Norway] sends out arrests On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, obeys. Shak.

om of youth. Every successive mother has transmitted a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty. Hawthorne.

To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink. The brief was writ and blotted all with gore. Gascoigne.

An abridgment; a compend; an epitome; a brief account or summary. A book entitled the abridgment or breviary of those roots that are to be cut up or gathered. Holland.

A short compend; a summary; a brief statement. I omit in this breviate to rehearse. Hakluyt. The same little breviates of infidelity have . . . been published and dispersed with great activity. Bp. Porteus.