Also 7 briske, brisque. [First found in end of 16th c.; evidently familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Derivation uncertain: Welsh brysg (used of briskness of foot) occurs in a poem of the 14th c. This appears to answer in form to OIr. brisc, Ir. briosg, Gael. brisg, Breton bresk, ‘brittle,’ ‘crumbly’; but it is not easy to connect the senses.
It is however possible that brisk is identical with F. brusque (which appears as bruisk in Sc. c. 1560, and as bruske as early as 1600); at least Cotgr. gives brisk as a translation of brusque, and the words appear to have influenced each other in early use. See BRUSQUE.]
A. adj.
1. Sharp or smart in regard to movement (in a praiseworthy sense); quick and active, lively.
a. of persons. (Sometimes used of disposition = ‘cheery, sprightly, lively,’ but this is now chiefly dial.)
[1560. T. Archibald, Lett., in Keith, Hist. Scotl. (1734), 489 (Jam.). Thir ar the imbassadoris … thai depart wondrous bruisk.]
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. v. 16. Chearly Boyes, Be brisk awhile.
1611. Cotgr., Brusque, briske, liuely, quicke, etc. Ibid., Frisque, friske, liuely, iolly, blithe, briske, fine, spruce, gay.
1613. R. C., Table Alph., Brisque, quick, liuely, fierce.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 298. A company of bold, young brisk fellows.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, I. 5. The brisk, alert agent of a great house in the city.
1882. Pebody, Eng. Journalism, xvi. 120. A bright, brisk lad, fresh from Oxford.
b. of actions and motions. (The prevalent modern use.)
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 101. To enter with him a brisk encounter.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., IV. xi. § 5. It must needs be some exteriour Cause, and the brisk acting of some Objects without me.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., Wks. I. 245. A slow and languid motion [of the eye] is more beautiful than a brisk one.
1777. Watson, Philip II. (1839), II. 213. He made a brisk attack upon one of the gates.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. I. vii. 91. He … opened a brisk cannonade on the enemy.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, II. xxii. The brisk pace of men who had errands before them.
c. of trade: Active, lively.
1719. W. Wood, Surv. Trade, 339. When Trade is brisk, Money … is more in view.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, iv. 49. The demand for iron was so brisk. Ibid. (1833), Br. Creek, iii. 64. A brisk traffic took place in the remaining articles.
d. of wind, fire, etc.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XII. 184. Up sprung a brisker breeze.
1759. Robertson, Hist. Scot., I. III. 203. At last a brisk gale arose.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 133. New and brisk fountains of water rise at spring tides.
1837. M. Donovan, Dom. Econ., II. 269. The brisk fire should … be only employed when the meat is half roasted.
e. of purgatives.
1799. Med. Jrnl., II. 236. He had a brisk cathartic given him.
1815. Scribbleomania, 207, note. They’ve drench’d her with cathartics brisk.
2. In allied senses, chiefly unfavorable.
† a. Sharp-witted, pert; curt. † b. ‘Fast’ of life. † c. Over hasty. † d. Unpleasantly sharp of tone. (With c, d, cf. Fr. brusque.) e. Quickly passing, brief.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iv. 6. These most briske and giddy-paced times.
1665. Glanvill, Sceps. Sci., Addr. 13. Divers of the brisker Geniusses, who desire rather to be accounted Witts, then endeavour to be so.
1667. Evelyn, in Four C. Eng. Lett., 108. The smoothest or briskest strokes of his Pindaric lyre.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1877), V. 422. The Surveyor began to be a little brisk at the beginning.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. I. 8. When that brisk and improvident Resolution was taken.
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, I. i. (1684), 11. He has been, as the sparkish word is, Brisk Upon the Ladies already.
1700. Penn. Archives, I. 138. I send yee ye Coots [= Court’s] Lettr wch is very brisk.
1739. Cibber, Apol., vii. 214. The briskest loose Liver or intemperate Man.
[1879. Browning, Ned Bratts, 23. Some trial for life and death, in a brisk five minutes’ space.]
† 3. Smartly or finely dressed; spruce. Obs.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., I. iv. ad fin. I have not seen a dapper jack so brisk.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 54. To see him shine so briske, and smell so sweet.
1603. Patient Grissil, 17. My brisk spangled baby will come into a stationer’s shop.
4. Of liquors: Agreeably sharp or smarting to the taste; effervescent, as opposed to ‘flat’ or ‘stale.’ (So It. brusco, Fr. vin brusque in Cotgr.) Similarly of the air: Fresh, keen, stimulating.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. iii. 48. A Cup of Wine, that’s briske and fine.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, III. ix. (1715), 75. Brisk Wines and Viands animate Their Souls.
1741. Brownrigg, in Phil. Trans., LV. 242. The brisk and pungent taste of the acidulæ.
1776. Sir W. Forbes, in Boswell, Johnson, II. 404. A bottle of beer … is made brisker by being set before the fire.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, I. ii. The air was brisk.
1846. J. Joyce, Sci. Dialogues, vii. 213. You see of what importance air is to give to all our liquors their pleasant and brisk flavour.
1877. L. Morris, Epic Hades, II. 198.
| A halo of life | |
| Played round them, and they brought a sweet brisk air | |
| Tasting of earth and heaven. |
† 5. Sharp to other senses; distinct, vivid.
† a. to the hearing. Obs.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., I. 21. There is … produced a considerably brisk noise.
1667. Primatt, City & C. Build., 51. Bricks well burnt … if you strike them with any thing, will make a brisk sound.
† b. to the sight. Obs.
1704. Newton, Opticks (1721), 92 (J.). Had it [my instrument] magnified but 30 or 25 times it had made the Object appear more brisk and pleasant.
6. Comb. a. adverbial, as brisk-going, sparkling; b. parasynthetic, as brisk-spirited.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4868/4. A … Cart Horse … brisk Spirited.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. iii. 132. Like a strong brisk-going undershot-wheel. Ibid. (1837), Fr. Rev., II. III. i. 128. Our brisk-sparkling assiduous official person.
† B. sb. a. A ‘brisk’ or smart person; a gallant, a fop. (Cf. A 3 above.) b. A lively, forward woman, a wanton.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. iii. I. ii. (1651), 604. A yong gallant … a Fastidious Brisk, that can wear his cloaths well in fashion.
1687. N. Lee, Princ. of Cleve, 36 (N.). The forward brisk, she that promis’d me the Ball Assignation.
