▪ I. terse, a.
(tɜːs)
Also 7 terce, tearce, teirce.
[ad. L. ters-us, pa. pple. of tergēre, -ĕre to wipe.]
† 1. Wiped, brushed; smoothed; clean-cut, sharp-cut; polished, burnished; neat, trim, spruce.
| 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iii. i, I am enamour'd of this street..'tis so polite and terse. 1607 Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe ii. i, Ist neate, is it terse! am I hansome? ha! 1615 Crooke Body of Man 20 This Man..so laboured vpon it, that he left it smooth and terce. 1623 Cockeram, Teirce, fine, neat, spruce. 1640 Wilkins New Planet ix. (1707) 256 The concave Superficies of that Sphere [the Moon] is usually supposed to be exactly terse and smooth. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 39 (Mod. Antiq.) Mrs. Frances' features..were rather terse and sharp. |
† 2. fig. Polite, polished, refined, cultured: esp. in reference to language. Obs. (passing into 3).
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xv. (1628) 132 A polite and terse Academicke. 1631 Massinger Emperor East i. ii, Your polite and terser gallants. 1695 J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 6 Castellio hath turned the whole Bible into pure, terse, elegant Latin. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry Diss. ii. (1840) I. p. cxviii, Henry of Huntingdon..was likewise a terse and polite Latin poet of this period. Ibid. II. xxvii. 365 A terse conciseness of sentences. |
3. spec. Freed from verbal redundancy; neatly concise; compact and pithy in style or language. (The current use.)
| 1777 W. Whitehead Goat's Beard 1 In eight terse lines has Phædrus told..A tale of goats. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 16 note, An eminently clear, terse, and spirited summary. 1866 Felton Anc. & Mod. Gr. I. ii. i. 286 The tersest simplicity and most pregnant brevity of speech. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. x. 475 note, The Peterborough Chronicler is almost startling in his terse brevity. |
† 4. Applied to claret; also absol. as n. Obs.
(Perh. not the same word. Some suggest Thiers, name of a wine-producing place in Puy-de-Dôme.)
| 1671 Shadwell Humourists iv. Wks. 1720 I. 179 Must I stay 'till by the strength of terse claret you have wet yourself into courage. 1687 Sedley Bellamira ii. i, I am so full I should spill terse at every jolt. Ibid., He grudg'd his money for honest terse. |
▪ II. terse
var. tarse Obs.; obs. f. tierce.