▪ I. breve, n.
(briːv)
Also 6 breeuve, 7 brieve.
[A variant of bref, brefe, brief n. in same senses.]
1. A letter of authority; a royal mandate: see brief n. 1.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 19606 O prince o preistes..purchest he þar breue For to seke..cristen men. 1600 Gowrie's Conspir. Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 197 In those parts where my lord was, they would give sundrie folks breeuves. 1626 Donne Serm. 687 The Jews had license to beg, they had a Breve. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. (1688) 182 Our legal business in the world must be done in certain forms of breves and writs. 1873 Dixon Two Queens I. ii. ii. 15 He was tempted to revoke his breves. |
b. spec. A pope's letter; = brief n. 2.
| 1536 Starkey England Introd. (1871) 37 Yf you folow the breves of the pope to you directid. 1679 T. Puller Moder. Ch. Eng. (1843) 38 Performed by..Pope Paul V, in a very smart breve, dated 1612. 1700 Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 790 The Pope..committed the Execution of his Breve to the Abbot. 1823 Lingard Hist. Eng. VI. 202 The breve of dispensation produced by the queen..was an evident forgery. 1863 Gardiner Hist. Eng. I. ii. 79 The pope..had sent two breves to Garnet. |
c. A summary, a short code of instructions, etc.
| 1523 Let. in Burnet Hist. Ref. II. 105 The more the said Breve cometh to light. 1651 Cleveland Poems 43 The Painters Brieve for Venus face; Item an Eye from Jane, a lip from Grace. |
2. Music. A note of the value of two semibreves, now written white and either oblong or (more usually) oval, with one or two strokes on each side; rarely used in modern music.
| 1460 [see brief n. 8]. 1480 Will of Bristowe (Somerset Ho.) An Imnar [Hymner] closed w{supt} brevys and longes. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. vii. 24 The Names of Notes in the Proportion of Time are Eight, as a Large, Long, Breve, Semibreve, etc. 1706 A. Bedford Temple Mus. xi. 227 When Musick was first invented, there were but Two Notes, viz. a Long, and a Breve. 1782 Burney Hist. Mus. II. 196 The black square note, called a Breve, the first and almost only note used in Canto Fermo. 1806 J. W. Callcott Mus. Gram. iii. 26 The Breve is a square white Note. 1863 Ld. Lytton Ring Amasis I. 27. |
† 3. Gram. A short syllable. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron. Rich. III. an. 3 (R.) This poetical schoolemayster, corector of breues and longes. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A breve is one time, and a long two. |
4. Print. The mark {nfbreve} placed over a vowel to signify that it is short.
5. [Fr. brève.] A name sometimes given (from their short tails) to the ant-thrushes.
▪ II. † breve, v. Obs.
Forms: 3–4 breven, 4–6 breve, 5 briefe, 6 bryve, 6 Sc. breif, brew.
[ME. breven, app. a. ON. bréfa to write (corresp. to OHG. briofan, OHG., MHG. briefen), ad. med.L. breviāre to draw up or send dispatches, f. breve a note, dispatch: see brief. App. the Latin word was never adopted in OE., but early ME. breven may possibly have been directly from it, rather than from the ON.]
1. trans. (and absol.). To set down in writing; to indite, compose, write (a matter).
| a 1225 St. Marher. 16 In iannes ant in iembres bokes ibreuet. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2521 As hit is breued in þe best boke of romaunce. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3736 Þus he breuyt in his boke of þe breme kynges. 1470 Harding Chron. xxxi. iii, As chronycles doth briefe. c 1505 Dunbar Poems (1884) 105 Allace! I can bot ballattis breif. a 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus Prol. 319 Now pas thy wayis, thou barrant buik new breuit. |
b. To enter in books of account; to ‘post’, make up (accounts).
| a 1377 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 10 Leveryes of men servantes, intituled Calciatura besides all wages breved. c 1440 Bk. Curtasye in Babees Book (1868) 553 The clerke of þe cochyn shalle alle þyng breue. 1484 Marg. Paston Lett. 881 III. 314 The mane..woll not take upon hym to breve dayly. |
c. to breve for: to render an account for.
| 1478 Liber Niger in Pegge Cur. Misc. (1782) 74 That the Marshall..send such one with his rod as he will answer for on the morrow and also that he will breve for. |
2. To recount, relate, state, tell.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 754 Breue me bryȝt, quat-kyn of priys Berez þe perle. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1488 If hit be sothe þat ȝe breue, þe blame is myn awen. a 1400 Alexander (Stevenson) 78 Breve us thi name. 1447–8 J. Shillingford Lett. (1871) 55 Y wolde have comyned w{supt} ham to have breved the mater. |
3. To note, point out.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1436 Þe best þat þer breued watz wyth þe blod houndez. |