How brief the life of man.
Shak.

The brief style is that which expresseth much in little.
B. Jonson.

In brief. See under Brief, n.

Syn. -- Short; concise; succinct; summary; compendious; condensed; terse; curt; transitory; short-lived.

Adam, faltering long, thus answered brief.
Milton.

Bear this sealed brief,
With winged hastle, to the lord marshal.
Shak.

And she told me
In a sweet, verbal brief.
Shak.

Each woman is a brief of womankind.
Overbury.

It was not without some reference to it that I perused many a brief.
Sir J. Stephen.

* In England, the brief is prepared by the attorney; in the United States, counsel generally make up their own briefs.

Apostolical brief, a letter of the pope written on fine parchment in modern characters, subscribed by the secretary of briefs, dated "a die Nativitatis," i. e., "from the day of the Nativity," and sealed with the ring of the fisherman. It differs from a bull, in its parchment, written character, date, and seal. See Bull. -- Brief of title, an abstract or abridgment of all the deeds and other papers constituting the chain of title to any real estate. -- In brief, in a few words; in short; briefly. "Open the matter in brief." Shak.