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7 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Brief \Brief\, verb (used with an object) To make an abstract or abridgment of; to shorten; as, to brief pleadings.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Brief \Brief\ (br[=e]f), adjective [OE. bref, F. brief, bref, fr. L. brevis; akin to Gr. brachy's short, and perh. to Skr. barh to tear. Cf. {Breve}.]
1. Short in duration.
How brief the life of man. --Shak.
2. Concise; terse; succinct.
The brief style is that which expresseth much in little. --B. Jonson.
3. Rife; common; prevalent. [Prov. Eng.]
{In brief}. See under {Brief}, noun
Syn: Short; concise; succinct; summary; compendious; condensed; terse; curt; transitory; short-lived.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Brief \Brief\, adverb
1. Briefly. [Obs. or Poetic]
Adam, faltering long, thus answered brief. --Milton.
2. Soon; quickly. [Obs.] --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Brief \Brief\ (br[=e]f), noun [See {Brief}, adjective, and cf. {Breve}.]
1. A short concise writing or letter; a statement in few words.
Bear this sealed brief, With winged hastle, to the lord marshal. --Shak.
And she told me In a sweet, verbal brief. --Shak.
2. An epitome.
Each woman is a brief of womankind. --Overbury.
3. (Law) An abridgment or concise statement of a client's case, made out for the instruction of counsel in a trial at law. This word is applied also to a statement of the heads or points of a law argument.
It was not without some reference to it that I perused many a brief. --Sir J. Stephen.
Note: In England, the brief is prepared by the attorney; in the United States, counsel generally make up their own briefs.
4. (Law) A writ; a breve. See {Breve}, noun, 2.
5. (Scots Law) A writ issuing from the chancery, directed to any judge ordinary, commanding and authorizing that judge to call a jury to inquire into the case, and upon their verdict to pronounce sentence.
6. A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose. [Eng.]
7. pl. a type of men's underpants without legs, fitting tightly and held by an elastic waistband; also called {Jockey shorts}. [PJC]
{Apostolical brief}, a letter of the pope written on fine parchment in modern characters, subscribed by the secretary of briefs, dated ''a die Nativitatis,'' i. e., ''from the day of the Nativity,'' and sealed with the ring of the fisherman. It differs from a bull, in its parchment, written character, date, and seal. See {Bull}.
{Brief of title}, an abstract or abridgment of all the deeds and other papers constituting the chain of title to any real estate.
{In brief}, in a few words; in short; briefly. ''Open the matter in brief.'' --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
brief
adjective
1: of short duration or distance; "a brief stay in the country"; "in a little while"; "it's a little way away" [syn: {little}]
2: concise and succinct; "covered the matter in a brief statement"
3: (of clothing) very short; "an abbreviated swimsuit"; "a brief bikini" [syn: {abbreviated}]
noun
1: a document stating the facts and points of law of a client's case [syn: {legal brief}]
2: a condensed written summary or abstract
verb: give essential information to someone; "The reporters were briefed about the President's plan to invade"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
227 Moby Thesaurus words for "brief": Spartan, abbreviated, abbreviation, abbreviature, abrege, abridge, abridged, abridgment, abrupt, abstract, account, account rendered, accounting, acquaint, acta, advertise, advertise of, advise, advocate, airmanship, annual, aposiopestic, apprise, bespeak, block in, block out, blunt, book, breviary, briefing, briefly, bring word, brisk, brusque, bulletin, capsule, capsulize, census report, chalk out, clipped, close, close-tongued, closemouthed, coach, cometary, communicate, compact, compend, compendious, compendium, compressed, concise, concisely, condensation, condense, condensed, condensed version, confer, conspectus, consult with, contracted, counsel, crisp, crusty, curt, curtailed, curtal, curtate, cut, debrief, decurtate, delineate, digest, direct, disclose, docked, draft, dumb, economical of words, election returns, elliptic, employ, engage, enlighten, ephemeral, epigrammatic, epitome, evanescent, explain, extract, familiarize, fill in, flashing, fleet, fleeting, flickering, flight plan, flying lessons, fugitive, give a briefing, give directions, give notice, give the facts, give word, gnomic, gruff, guide, head, hire, in brief, in sum, in summary, indisposed to talk, inform, instantaneous, instruct, kibitz, laconic, leave word, let know, line, little, low, meddle, mention to, meteoric, minutes, momentary, mum, mute, notify, nutshell, outline, overview, pandect, passing, pilot training, pilotship, pithy, pointed, precis, preengage, prescribe, proceedings, propose, pruned, quick, quiet, recommend, recruit, report, reserve, reserved, resume, retain, returns, review, rough, rough in, rough out, rubric, run down, run through, rundown, send word, sententious, serve notice, short, short and sweet, short-lived, short-term, short-termed, shorten, shortened, shortened version, sign on, sign up, sign up for, silent, skeleton, sketch, sketch out, snug, sparing of words, speak, speechless, speedy, statement, submit, succinct, succinctly, suggest, summarize, summary, survey, swift, syllabus, synopsis, synopsize, synopsized, synoptic, taciturn, take into employment, take on, tally, tell, temporary, terse, the record, thumbnail sketch, tight, tight-lipped, to the point, tongue-tied, topical outline, trace, transactions, transient, transitory, truncated, unloquacious, untalkative, verse, washout, word-bound, wordless, yearbook
From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:
BRIEF Basic Reconfigurable Interactive Editing Facility
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. Audio provided by one of our generous visitors. - KM |