1. (a.) Short in duration.

2. (a.) Concise; terse; succinct.

3. (a.) Rife; common; prevalent.

4. (adv.) Briefly.

5. (adv.) Soon; quickly.

6. (n.) A short concise writing or letter; a statement in few words.

7. (n.) An epitome.

8. (n.) 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.

9. (n.) A writ; a breve. See Breve, n., 2.

10. (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.

11. (n.) A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.

12. (v. t.) To make an abstract or abridgment of; to shorten; as, to brief pleadings.

Spartan abbreviated abbreviation abbreviature abrege abridge abridged abridgment abrupt abstract account account rendered accounting acquaint acta advertise advertise of advise advocate airmanship annual aposiopestic apprise bespeak block in block out blunt book breviary briefing briefly bring word brisk brusque bulletin capsule capsulize census report chalk out clipped close close-tongued closemouthed coach cometary communicate compact compend compendious compendium compressed concise concisely condensation condense condensed condensed version confer conspectus consult with contracted counsel crisp crusty curt curtailed curtal curtate cut debrief decurtate delineate digest direct disclose docked draft dumb economical of words election returns elliptic employ engage enlighten ephemeral epigrammatic epitome evanescent explain extract familiarize fill in flashing fleet fleeting flickering flight plan flying lessons fugitive give a briefing give directions give notice give the facts give word gnomic gruff guide head hire in brief in sum in summary indisposed to talk inform instantaneous instruct kibitz laconic leave word let know line little low meddle mention to meteoric minutes momentary mum mute notify nutshell outline overview pandect passing pilot training pilotship pithy pointed precis preengage prescribe proceedings propose pruned quick quiet recommend recruit report reserve reserved resume retain returns review rough rough in rough out rubric run down run through rundown send word sententious serve notice short short and sweet short-lived short-term short-termed shorten shortened shortened version sign on sign up sign up for silent skeleton sketch sketch out snug sparing of words speak speechless speedy statement submit succinct succinctly suggest summarize summary survey swift syllabus synopsis synopsize synopsized synoptic taciturn take into employment take on tally tell temporary terse the record thumbnail sketch tight tight-lipped to the point tongue-tied topical outline trace transactions transient transitory truncated unloquacious untalkative verse washout word-bound wordless yearbook