[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being brisk; smartness or sharpness of motion; liveliness, quickness, activity.
a. 1655. R. Robinson, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. lxv. 10. [The rain] begets a kind of briskness in the sensitive creatures.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 125. To leap forth into nimble freaks and brisknesses.
1839. Sat. Mag. Suppl., June, 253/2. The animals … are not remarkable for briskness of motion.
1879. H. George, Progr. & Pov., IX. iii. The increased briskness of trade.
b. Agreeable sharpness of taste, freshness; effervescent quality. Also transf. (of air) and fig.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Cask, The Briskness of the Drink [cider].
1816. L. Hunt, Rimini, I. ix. A balmy briskness comes upon the breeze.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 215. Champagne and other sparkling wines owe their briskness to the presence of carbonic acid.
1880. Times, 26 July, 9/4. No man has a greater faculty of freshening up topics that have lost their briskness.
† c. Abrupt blunt manner; brusqueness. Obs.
1668. Pepys, Diary, 13 Nov. There is no way to rule the King but by brisknesse, which the Duke of Buckingham hath above all men.
