Adjective

(er)

(obsolete) Polished, burnished; smooth; fine, neat, spruce.

(of speech or style) Brief, concise, to the point.

* 1907 , , title page:

"A consise and comprehensive dictionary of general knowledge consisting of over 16,000 terse and original articles on nearly all subjects discussed in larger encyclopaedias,"

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 4, author=Lewis Smith, work=the Guardian

, title= Queen's English Society says enuf is enough, innit? , passage=Having attempted to identify a role for the society and its magazine, Quest, "for the next 40 years", the society chairman, Rhea Williams, decided it was time to close. She announced the group's demise in a terse message to members following the annual meeting, which just 22 people attended.}}

Abruptly or brusquely short.

Adjective

(en adjective)

(legal) Precluding debate or expostulation; not admitting of question or appeal; positive; absolute; decisive; conclusive; final.

* 1596 , Francis Bacon, Maxims of the Law , II:

there is no reason but if any of the outlawries be indeed without error, but it should be a peremptory plea to the person in a writ of error, as well as in any other action.

Positive in opinion or judgment; absolutely certain, overconfident, unwilling to hear any debate or argument (especially in a pejorative sense); dogmatic.

* 2003 , Andrew Marr, The Guardian , 6 Jan 03:

He marched under a placard reading "End Bossiness Now" but decided it was a little too peremptory , not quite British, so changed the slogan on subsequent badges, to "End Bossiness Soon."

(obsolete) Firmly determined, resolute; obstinate, stubborn.

Accepting no refusal or disagreement; imperious, dictatorial.

*

less surprising than that he had been depressed by a book. Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart.

* 1999 , Anthony Howard, The Guardian , 2 Jan 99:

Though today (surveying that yellowing document) I shudder at the peremptory tone of the instructions I gave, Alastair - in that same volume in which I get chastised for my coverage of the Macmillan rally - was generous enough to remark that my memorandum became 'an office classic'.