a. - Short in duration.
a. - Concise; terse; succinct.
a. - Rife; common; prevalent.
adv. - Briefly.
adv. - Soon; quickly.
a. - A short concise writing or letter; a statement in few words.
a. - An epitome.
a. - 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.
a. - A writ; a breve. See Breve, n., 2.
n. - 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.
n. - A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.
v. t. - To make an abstract or abridgment of; to shorten; as, to brief pleadings.