Adjective

(en-adj)

Full of liveliness and activity; characterized by quickness of motion or action; lively; spirited; quick.

We took a brisk walk yesterday.

* {{quote-news, year=2012

, date=December 29 , author=Paul Doyle , title=Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle , work=The Guardian citation , page= , passage=Ba, who has been linked with a January move to Arsenal, should have rewarded their brisk start with the opening goal in the 16th minute. }}

Full of spirit of life; effervescing, as liquors; sparkling; as, brisk cider.

Stimulating or invigorating.

This morning was a brisk fall day. It wasn't cold enough for frost, but you wanted to keep moving.

Abrupt, curt in one's manner or in relation to others.

* 1919 ,

Her manner was brisk, and her good-breeding scarcely concealed her conviction that if you were not a soldier you might as well be a counter-jumper.

Adjective

(en adjective)

Of short duration; happening quickly.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

How brief the life of man.

*, chapter=10

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation

, passage=That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past. }}

Concise; taking few words.

* (Ben Johnson) (1572-1637)

The brief style is that which expresseth much in little.

*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)

, chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}

Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.

* 1983 , Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers , Penguin 2009, p. 17:

On the beach he always wore a straw hat with a red band and a brief pair of leopard print trunks.

(obsolete) Rife; common; prevalent.