brusque definition

English brusque definition

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from French brusque, from Italian brusco (“abrupt, sudden, brusque; brisk; eager; sour, tart; unripe; grim-looking”); further etymology unknown.^[1]

The verb is derived from the adjective.^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɹʊsk/, /bɹuːsk/, /bɹʌsk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɹʌsk/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Adjective

brusque (comparative brusquer or more brusque, superlative brusquest or most brusque)

1. Rudely abrupt; curt, unfriendly.

   Synonyms: offhand, short

   • 1730, [Elijah] Fenton, “Observations on Some of Mr. Waller’s Poems. [To Zelinda.]”, in Edmund Waller, edited by [Elijah] Fenton, The Works of Edmund Waller, Esq; in Verse and Prose, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, page cv:

     Mr. VValler, being probably of opinion that Monſieur Palamede’s arguments vvere too bruſque to be advanc’d in a diſpute vvith a Lady, vvho number’d not fevver than tvventy Kings of her progenitors, vvrote this poem in a more tender and courtly ſtyle; […]

   • 1761, “Thorpe Leigh; or, The Heir and the Owner”, in Riddell’s Review and Epitomist: A Literary Miscellany, and Record of Progress, part I, number III (New Series), London: J. H. Riddell, […], chapter XX, page 33, column 2:

     [A]ll the answer Miss Jarron got was a brusque refusal, followed by Mr. Camperton's retreat from the piano.

   • 1788 May, “Art. VI. Of the Patagonians, Formed from the Relation of Father Falkener, a Jesuit, who had Resided among Them Thirty-eight Years, and from the Different Voyagers who had Met with this Tall Race. Printed by the Friendship of George Allan, Esq; at His Private Press at Darlington, 1788, 4to. 15 Pages. [book review]”, in [Thomas Christie], editor, The Analytical Review, or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign. […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 47:

     Father Falkener vvas, at the time of this viſit, 'about ſeventy years of age, active in mind and body, bruſque in his manners,' and very communicative.

   • 1826, [Benjamin Disraeli], “Toadeys”, in Vivian Grey, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book II, pages 244–245:

     "Cynthia Courtown seems as lively as ever," said Miss Gusset. / "Yes, lively enough, but I wish her manner was less brusque." / "Brusque indeed! you may well say to: she nearly pushed me down in the hall; and when I looked as if I thought she might have given me a little more room, she tossed her head and said, "Beg pardon, never saw you!"

   • 1858, Anthony Trollope, “Dr. Thorne”, in Doctor Thorne. […], volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 57:

     He was brusque, authoritative, given to contradiction, rough though never dirty in his personal belongings, and inclined to indulge in a sort of quiet raillery which sometimes was not thoroughly understood.

   • 1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XV, in Lothair. […], volume II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 161–162:

     Whether it were the absence of Theodora or some other cause, he was brusk, ungracious, scowling, and silent, only nodding to the Bishop who benignly saluted him, […]

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Major —— De Coverley”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 137:

     He greeted Milo jovially each time they met and, in an excess of contrite generosity, impulsively recommended Major Major for promotion. The recommendation was rejected at once at Twenty-seventh Air Force Headquarters by ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen, who scribbled a brusque, unsigned reminder that the Army had only one Major Major Major Major and did not intend to lose him by promotion just to please Colonel Cathcart.

   • 1962 November 19, “Publishers’ Association of New York City, et al. and New York Mailers Union No. 6 International Typographical Union, AFL-CIO and Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union”, in Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board (Cases No. 2-CA-7863 and 2-CA-7884), volume 139, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office [for the] National Labor Relations Board, published 1963, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1122:

     Where there are reasonably adequate peaceful alternatives, the use of disruptive self-help by either side of a labor dispute in so important an enterprise contributes neither to the public convenience nor to the long-term interest of the participants. For if they are unable to resolve their differences by their own restraints and inventions, other and more impatient forces may provide brusquer machinery.

   • 2005 April 29, “No soup for you? Not so fast”, in NBC News‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 September 2022:

     The brusque New York chef [Ali Yeganeh] who was lampooned on "Seinfeld" as the "Soup Nazi" plans to open a chain of takeout soup stands across North America. But don’t expect the authentically rude New York treatment.

   • 2014, “The People Responsible for the Genocide”, in Wolfgang Gust, editor, The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915–1916, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 69:

     […] I approached the Commissioner of Deportation with a request to release some Armenians who were employed by Germans. He refused this in the brusquest manner and said to me in an incredibly arrogant tone of voice which I will never forget, ‘Vous ne comprenez pas ce que nous voulons. Nous voulons une Arménie sans Arméniens.’ [You do not understand what we want. We want an Armenia without Armenians.]

   • 2018 June 19, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “Inside the Crypto World’s Biggest Scandal”, in Wired‎^[2], San Francisco, Calif.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 July 2022:

     They admired in each other a brusque self-assurance and artless candor that others often perceived as arrogant.

   • 2019 April 28, Alex McLevy, “Game Of Thrones Suffers the Fog of War in the Battle against the Dead (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[3], archived from the original on 31 May 2021:

     When Dany showed up to throw the Night King off his steed and send him plunging to earth, it was at least a coherent action, which the brusque dragon-grappling prior to it failed to convey.

2. (obsolete) Sour, tart.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXIII.] The Medecines which Grapes Fresh and New Gathered doe Yeeld. […].”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, →OCLC, page 152:

     [T]he thin and bruske harſh vvine doth nouriſh the bodie leſſe, but yet more agreeable and nutritive it is to the ſtomack.

Alternative forms

• brusk (Britain, obsolete, or US)

Derived terms

• brusquely
• brusqueness
• brusquerie, brusquery

Translations

Verb

brusque (third-person singular simple present brusques, present participle brusquing, simple past and past participle brusqued)

1. (transitive, chiefly archaic) To act towards (someone or something) in a curt or rudely abrupt manner.
   • 1740, A[dam] Williamson, “The Disposition of an Army. [General Battles.]”, in Military Memoirs and Maxims of Marshal Turenne. […], Dublin: […] George Faulkner, […], →OCLC, footnote †, page 36:

     Had this been done, Denine had not been bruſqued and carried by Villars at the firſt aſſault, […]

   • 1781 August 24, Benjamin Franklin, “[Benjamin] Franklin to [William] Carmichael”, in Francis Wharton, editor, The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States. […] (50th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives Mis. Doc.; 603, part 4), volume IV, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1889, →OCLC, page 660:

     He was indefatigable while he stayed and took true pains, but he brusqued the ministers too much, and I found after he was gone that he had thereby given more offense than I could have imagined.

   • 1803 March 4, William Wilberforce, “W. Wilberforce, Esq. to Thomas Babington, Esq.”, in Robert Isaac Wilberforce, Samuel Wilberforce, editors, The Correspondence of William Wilberforce. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 263:

     Not that I suspect you of thus brusquing matters. It is rather my own fault where, which is too often the case, I am not too negligent about the spiritual concerns of my friends.

   • 1826, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 201:

     I'll e'en brusque it a little, if he goes on at this rate, and try if I can bring him to a more intelligible mode of speaking.

   • 1839 October, [Egerton Brydges], “Some Recollections of James Hogg. […] No. I.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XX, number CXVIII, London: James Fraser […], →OCLC, page 427, column 1:

     [H]e [Thomas Pringle] was poor, and from the outset [William] Blackwood domineered over and brusqued him. [James] Cleghorn was also poor, but of a sturdy disposition, and he brusqued every body.

   • 1901, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Ultimatum”, in The Tangled Skein, London: Greening & Co., published 1907, →OCLC, part II (The Lady Ursula), page 117:

     He blamed himself very severely for his attempt at brusquing Fate.

   • 1939 August, George [Edward Gordon] Catlin, “Moralism”, in Anglo-Saxony and Its Tradition, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, § v, page 272:

     The scholar may object that Professor Macmurray is a 'judaizer' who not only brusques the authority of the Church.

   • 2003, [Nikki Gemmell], “Lesson 5: It is Absolutely Necessary to Wash the Armpits and Hips Every Day”, in The Bride Stripped Bare, London, New York, N.Y.: Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, →ISBN, part I, pages 10–11:

     Sometimes in bed Cole doesn't allow your hand to stay on his chest, he brusques it away. Sometimes he lets your hand rest there.

Translations

References

Further reading

• “brusque”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “brusque”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “brusque”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French brusque definition

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian brusco. Doublet of brusc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁysk/

• brusque

  (file)

Adjective

brusque (plural brusques)

1. abrupt (sudden or hasty)

   Synonyms: abrupt, brutal

2. curt

Verb

brusque

1. inflection of brusquer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “brusque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.