brief
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: brēf
ipa: /bɹiːf/
rhymes: -iːf
Forms: form: briefs
Etymology: From Middle English breef, breve, bref, from Old French brief, bref, from Latin brevis (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short, brief”). Doublet of breve and merry.
Senses: topics: law
glosses: A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
examples: text: It was in vain that the bishop published a new papal brief, declaring valid the excommunications which he had issued, and those of the inquisitors to be null, and requiring them to seek absolution from him.
ref: 1891 August 23, Henry Charles Lea, “A Colonial Inquisitor”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN:
topics: Catholicism
Christianity
Roman-Catholicism
law
glosses: A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate.
A short papal letter.
coordinate_terms: bull
examples: text: A written answer or any other brief shall be submitted to the court while allowing a period necessary for the opponent to make preparations with regard to the matters stated therein.
ref: 1996, Japanese Rules of Civil Procedure, Article 79, Section 1
topics: law
glosses: An answer to any action.
topics: law
glosses: A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.
examples: text: Mrs. Hope was, we believe, a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and neither she nor her editor conceals the fact that they hold a brief for the Pope and for Catharine against Henry VIII.
ref: 1894 August 18, “The First Divorce of Henry VIII [book review]”, in The Speaker, volume 10, page 192:
glosses: A position of interest or advocacy.
topics: law
glosses: An attorney's legal argument in written form for submission to a court.
topics: law
glosses: The material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who is counsel for the case.
topics: law
glosses: A barrister who is counsel for a party in a legal action.
examples: text: We got a news brief.
text: Hie good ſir Mighell, beare this ſealed briefe / With winged haſte to the Lord Marſhall / This to my cooſen Scroope, and all the reſt / To whom they are directed.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
glosses: A short news story or report.
examples: text: I wear boxers under trousers but for sports I usually wear a brief.
glosses: Underwear briefs.
examples: text: […] euen ſo it fareth with mee, who béeing about to anatomize Abſurditie, am vrged to take a view of ſundry mens vanitie, a ſuruey of their follie, a briefe of their barbariſme […]
ref: 1589, Thomas Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie:
text: EACH woman is a brief of womankind, / And doth in little e’en as much contain, / As in one day and night all life we find ; / Of either more is but the ſame again […]
ref: a. 1613, Sir Thomas Overbury, “A Wife”, in The Miscellaneous Works in Verse and Prose of Sir Thomas Overbury, Knt. with Memoir of his Life, 10th edition, London: W. Owen, published 1756, page 23:
glosses: A summary, précis or epitome; an abridgement or abstract.
glosses: A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.
glosses: A ticket of any type.
Derived terms: brief-bag
briefcase
briefless
briefman
briefs
control brief
counterbrief
faggot brief
in brief
king's brief
racing briefs
sea brief
swim brief
watching brief