brusque
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɹʊsk/
ipa: /bɹuːsk/
ipa: /bɹʌsk/
ipa: /bɹʌsk/
rhymes: -ʌsk
Forms: form: brusquer
form: more brusque
form: brusquest
form: most brusque
form: brusk
Etymology: The adjective is borrowed from French brusque, from Italian brusco (“abrupt, sudden, brusque; brisk; eager; sour, tart; unripe; grim-looking”); further etymology unknown.
The verb is derived from the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: Mr. VValler, being probably of opinion that Monſieur Palamede’s arguments vvere too bruſque to be advanc’d in a diſpute vvith a Lady, vvho number’d not fevver than tvventy Kings of her progenitors, vvrote this poem in a more tender and courtly ſtyle; […]
ref: 1730, [Elijah] Fenton, “Observations on Some of Mr. Waller’s Poems. [To Zelinda.]”, in Edmund Waller, edited by [Elijah] Fenton, The Works of Edmund Waller, Esq; in Verse and Prose, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, page cv:
text: [A]ll the answer Miss Jarron got was a brusque refusal, followed by Mr. Camperton's retreat from the piano.
ref: 1761, “Thorpe Leigh; or, The Heir and the Owner”, in Riddell’s Review and Epitomist: A Literary Miscellany, and Record of Progress, part I, number III (New Series), London: J. H. Riddell, […], chapter XX, page 33, column 2:
text: Father Falkener vvas, at the time of this viſit, 'about ſeventy years of age, active in mind and body, bruſque in his manners,' and very communicative.
ref: 1788 May, “Art. VI. Of the Patagonians, Formed from the Relation of Father Falkener, a Jesuit, who had Resided among Them Thirty-eight Years, and from the Different Voyagers who had Met with this Tall Race. Printed by the Friendship of George Allan, Esq; at His Private Press at Darlington, 1788, 4to. 15 Pages. [book review]”, in [Thomas Christie], editor, The Analytical Review, or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign. […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 47:
text: "Cynthia Courtown seems as lively as ever," said Miss Gusset. / "Yes, lively enough, but I wish her manner was less brusque." / "Brusque indeed! you may well say to: she nearly pushed me down in the hall; and when I looked as if I thought she might have given me a little more room, she tossed her head and said, "Beg pardon, never saw you!"
ref: 1826, [Benjamin Disraeli], “Toadeys”, in Vivian Grey, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book II, pages 244–245:
text: He was brusque, authoritative, given to contradiction, rough though never dirty in his personal belongings, and inclined to indulge in a sort of quiet raillery which sometimes was not thoroughly understood.
ref: 1858, Anthony Trollope, “Dr. Thorne”, in Doctor Thorne. […], volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 57:
text: Whether it were the absence of Theodora or some other cause, he was brusk, ungracious, scowling, and silent, only nodding to the Bishop who benignly saluted him, […]
ref: 1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XV, in Lothair. […], volume II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 161–162:
text: He greeted Milo jovially each time they met and, in an excess of contrite generosity, impulsively recommended Major Major for promotion. The recommendation was rejected at once at Twenty-seventh Air Force Headquarters by ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen, who scribbled a brusque, unsigned reminder that the Army had only one Major Major Major Major and did not intend to lose him by promotion just to please Colonel Cathcart.
ref: 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Major —— De Coverley”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 137:
text: Where there are reasonably adequate peaceful alternatives, the use of disruptive self-help by either side of a labor dispute in so important an enterprise contributes neither to the public convenience nor to the long-term interest of the participants. For if they are unable to resolve their differences by their own restraints and inventions, other and more impatient forces may provide brusquer machinery.
ref: 1962 November 19, “Publishers’ Association of New York City, et al. and New York Mailers Union No. 6 International Typographical Union, AFL-CIO and Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union”, in Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board (Cases No. 2-CA-7863 and 2-CA-7884), volume 139, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office [for the] National Labor Relations Board, published 1963, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1122:
text: The brusque New York chef [Ali Yeganeh] who was lampooned on "Seinfeld" as the "Soup Nazi" plans to open a chain of takeout soup stands across North America. But don’t expect the authentically rude New York treatment.
ref: 2005 April 29, “No soup for you? Not so fast”, in NBC News, archived from the original on 26 Sep 2022:
text: […] I approached the Commissioner of Deportation with a request to release some Armenians who were employed by Germans. He refused this in the brusquest manner and said to me in an incredibly arrogant tone of voice which I will never forget, ‘Vous ne comprenez pas ce que nous voulons. Nous voulons une Arménie sans Arméniens.’ [You do not understand what we want. We want an Armenia without Armenians.]
ref: 2014, “The People Responsible for the Genocide”, in Wolfgang Gust, editor, The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915–1916, New York, N.Y.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 69:
text: They admired in each other a brusque self-assurance and artless candor that others often perceived as arrogant.
ref: 2018 June 19, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “Inside the Crypto World’s Biggest Scandal”, in Wired, San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Jul 2022:
text: When Dany showed up to throw the Night King off his steed and send him plunging to earth, it was at least a coherent action, which the brusque dragon-grappling prior to it failed to convey.
ref: 2019 April 28, Alex McLevy, “Game Of Thrones Suffers the Fog of War in the Battle against the Dead (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 May 2021:
synonyms: offhand
short
glosses: Rudely abrupt; curt, unfriendly.
examples: text: [T]he thin and bruske harſh vvine doth nouriſh the bodie leſſe, but yet more agreeable and nutritive it is to the ſtomack.
ref: 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXIII.] The Medecines which Grapes Fresh and New Gathered doe Yeeld. […].”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 152:
glosses: Sour, tart.
Derived terms: brusquely
brusqueness
brusquerie
brusquery