Forms: 4–6 bref, breff, brefe, 5–6 bryef, breve, breue, breyf(fe, 6–7 breefe, briefe, 7 breif(e, 6– brief. [ME. bref, a. OF. bref, fem. breve (= Pr., Cat. breu, It., Sp., Pg. breve):—L. brevem, nom. brevis, short. The vowel has been lengthened in Eng., as in chief, relief, etc.]
A. adj. 1. Of short duration, quickly passing away or ending.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 268. & busyez þe aboute a raysoun bref.
c. 1400. Beryn, 871. Goith hymselff a begging aftir in breff tyme.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. ii. 118. Man, proud man, Drest in a little briefe authoritie. Ibid. (1605), Macb., V. v. 23. Out, out, breefe Candle, Life’s but a walking Shadow.
1828. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), I. 231. Some brief pure moments of poetic life.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 43. O tell her, brief is life but love is long, And brief the sun of summer in the North, And brief the moon of beauty in the South.
† b. To be brief: to be expeditious or hasty. Obs.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., IV. v. 237. Achil. Behold thy fill. Hect. Nay, I haue done already. Achil. Thou art to breefe.
2. Occupying short time in speaking or reading; consisting of few words, short, concise.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wicket, Argument, A verye brefe diffinition of these wordes.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 55. Ihesu spak wiþ wordis breue.
1494. Fabyan, II. xxxv. 26. The more partie of wryters reherce in most breuest or shortest maner.
1547. Act 1 Edw. VI., iii. § 16. The Curate [shall] … make … a godly and briefe exhortation.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 548. The Abstracts and breefe Chronicles of the time.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 263. So ’tis in Books the chief Of all Perfections to be plain and brief.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 311. I shall give a brief account of it all.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, vi. 322. As the briefest definition, one might say [etc.].
b. To be brief: to speak concisely.
1588. Fraunce, Lawiers Log., I. iv. 27. As if a man, meaning to be brief, should promise that he would gallop over al the rest of his text.
1644. Milton, Educ. (1738), 135. Brief I shall endeavour to be.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), II. 135. I shall be but brief on the circumstances of his life.
c. Curt or abrupt in manner. rare.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xliv. The bearing of the gracious Duncan was brief, bluff, and consequential.
3. Less usually of extent in space: Short, curtailed, limited. (Cf. 1605 in sense 1.)
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., II. vi. 97. Contracting the whole Heart in a brief manner.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, vi. Wearing the briefest petticoat of any nymph of St. Ronan’s.
1863. Hawthorne, Old Home, Leamington Spa. A small play-place … permeated by brief paths.
† 4. fig. Limited, slight, restricted. Obs.
1432–50. trans. Higden (1865), I. 71. Some men of pover and breve intellecte.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 165. Postures, beyond breefe Nature.
¶ 5. Rife; common; prevalent: often used of epidemic diseases. dial. (The origin of this sense is not clear: the Shaksp. quot. is generally cited as an example, but is by no means certain.)
[1595. Shaks., John, IV. iii. 158. A thousand businesses are briefe in hand, And heauen it selfe doth frowne vpon the Land.]
1706. Phillips, Brief, rife, or common.
1721–1800. Bailey, Brief, common, or rife.
1848–60. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., Brief, rife, common, prevalent. This word is … much used by the uneducated in the interior of New England and in Virginia, when speaking of epidemic diseases.
1879. Shropsh. Gloss., Brief, prevalent, general.
1881. Leicester Gloss. (E. D. S.), s.v. ‘Colds are very brief this east wind.’
B. quasi-sb.
a. In brief: in few words, shortly, concisely. With ellipsis of ‘to speak’: In short, to sum up.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., cxxvii. Off quhich ryght thus hir ansuere was in bref.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 267. In breefe, we are the King of Englands subjects.
1609. D. Rogers, Harl. MS. 1944 lf. 22. A man … published … the matter of ye playes in breife.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 171. To whom in brief thus Abdiel stern repli’d.
1800–24. Campbell, Cherubs, 29. Ay, and a cut-throat too;—in brief, The greatest scoundrel living.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Fr. Wines & Pol., ii. 21. Charles gave in brief the story of the storm.
† b. The brief, used absol. like the short. Obs.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. ii. 126. That’s the breff and the long. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, II. iii. 34. ’Tis very straunge, that is the breefe and the tedious of it.
1601. Bp. Barlow, Serm. Paules Crosse, 48. The chiefe, and the briefe is this.
C. quasi-adv. a. Shortly, quickly; in few words, concisely. b. In brief.
1557. North, trans. Gueuara’s Diall Pr. (1582), 79 b. In this sort I should write vnto thee briefe and touching the purpose.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. iii. 174. It were a griefe, so brief to part with thee.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 876. Those two approachd And brief related whom they brought.
b. 1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. iii. 151. Briefe, I recouer’d him.
1855. Browning, Fra Lippo. Brief, they made a monk of me.
