/brisk/definition

brisk

-) Adjective.

-) Pronunciation: brɪsk.

-) Etymology: of uncertain origin.

-) Comparative form: brisker. Superlative form: briskest.

-) 1. a. (Of an animated being) behaving, acting or moving with quickness, or with such a attitude as to make it (him, her) appear sprightly; this is, quick in action or movement.

-) Synonyms: active, quick, cheery, nimble, sprightly, energetic, zippy, spry, perk.

-) Antonyms: dull, moped, inactive, sluggish, lazy, slothful.

-) Translation: activo, dinámico, in Spanish; expéditif, actif, dynamique, in French; dinamico, attivo, in Italian.

When the ladies were gone, which was as soon as Amelia could prevail on Mrs. James to depart, Colonel Bath, who had been pretty brisk with champagne at dinner, soon began to display his magnanimity.

Henry Fielding… Amelia 1751

According to this most pleasing of all naturalists, the microscope discovers that the seminal liquor, not only of males, but of females also, abounds in these moving little animals which have been mentioned above, and that they appear equally brisk in either fluid.

Goldsmith… A History of the Earth…

[…] the old gentleman came in as brisk as need be.

Dickens… Oliver Twist

[…] so I became sullen and silent, my opponent in an equal degree brisk and loquacious. 

Howard… Rattlin the Reefer 1834

[…] it was a common saying among their friends, that it was impossible to say which looked the happier, Tim as he sat calmly smiling in his elbow-chair on one side of the fire, or his brisk little wife chatting and laughing, and constantly bustling in and out of hers, on the other.

Dickens… Nicholas Nickleby 1839

[…] she looked brisk with impatience, laughing a low laugh…

George Meredith… The Shaving of Shagpat

'Beg pardon, sir,' said a brisk waiter, rubbing the table. 'Wish see bed-room?'

Dickens… Little Dorrit

Mark bestirred himself, however, to execute the offices with which he was entrusted; and soon lost all tendency to any outward expression of his surprise, in the occupation of being brisk and busy.

Dickens… Martin Chuzzlewit

-) b. (Of the action or of the motion of an animated being) being acted, performed or done with quickness, promptness or activity.

-) Translation: activo, in Spanish; actif, in French; attivo, in Italian.

The group before him consisted of French and Spanish peasants, the inhabitants of a neighbouring hamlet, some of whom were performing a sprightly dance, the women with castanets in their hands, to the sounds of a lute and a tamborine, till, from the brisk melody of France, the music softened into a slow movement, to which two female peasants danced a Spanish Pavan.

Ann Radcliffe… The Mysteries… 1794

[…] they proceeded onward at a brisk pace.

Dickens… Barnaby Rudge

A brisk tattoo of knuckles on the oaken door stopped him. Bill came in, grinning with satisfaction over something.

Bower… The Gringos

Nan walked on at a brisker pace.

Black… The Beautiful Wretch

No one made reply to this; it seemed scarcely worth while. Every man of them rode humped away from the wind, his head drawn down as close to his shoulders as might be. Conversation under those conditions was not likely to become brisk.

Bower… The Happy Family 1910

The oxen were in brisk motion, and presently the cries of pursuit were heard in the street.

Cooper… The Pioneers

The bells pretty well covered our horses from their necks to their haunches, a pair of gallant grays urged to their briskest pace by the driver whose short square face and humorous mouth and eyes were a joy whenever we caught a glimpse of them.

Howells… Familiar Spanish Travels

[…] a small creek. There we and our horses drank incredible quantities of water, and as our position was not yet very safe, we again resumed our march at a brisk trot.

Marryat… Monsieur Violet

They had some medicine in their chest; and this man of sad experience showed Mark how and when to administer it, and how he could best alleviate the sufferings of Martin. His attentions did not stop there; for he was backwards and forwards constantly, and rendered Mark good service in all his brisk attempts to make their situation more endurable.

Dickens… Martin Chuzzlewit

"It is wonderful," says Pliny, "how the mind is stirred to activity by brisk bodily exercise."

Pater… Marius… 1885

Once it was known that we were in the market for cattle, competition was brisk, the sellers bidding against each other and fixing the prices at which we accepted the stock.

Adams… Reed Anthony

-) 2. The following acceptations are analogies deduced from the preceding ones:

-) a. (Of a beverage or a liquor for drinking) having good taste, or with such effect as to be qualified as spirited.

-) Antonyms: unspirited, insipid.

-) Translation: brusco, in Italian; agréablement spiritueux, in French; agradablemente espiritoso, in Spanish.

And the Bavarian beer, my dear friend, how good and brisk and light it is!

Thackeray… Roundabout Papers

-) b. (Of the air) strong enough to be invigorate.

The sun was bright, the air brisk and invigorating.

Thackeray… The History of Pendennis

The air was brisk.  

Benjamin Disraeli… Venetia

There had been moments when she had despised herself for using her stronger will to coerce Blake into the fulfilment of his engagement, but on the morning after the wedding these moments were forgotten, and, as she hoed and raked and planted in the brisk air and the bright spring sunshine, her whole existence seemed uplifted by the knowledge that she and Blake at last belonged unquestionably to each other; that every output of her strength was for their common comfort, and would continue to be as long as they both should live.

Mary Earle… The Glass Door

-) c. (Of wind, fire, cold, shower, etc) too much effective; vigorous.

When the entire chimney had thus been raised, and had been properly bound in with outward props, a brisk fire was kindled, and kept going until it was burned to something like a brick-red.

Cooper… The Deerslayer

We had been two days almost totally becalmed, when, a brisk gale rising as we were in sight in Dunkirk, we saw a vessel making full sail towards us.

Henry Fielding… Mr. Jonathan Wild 

A breeze from the north brought this stratum of cloud and, being a little brisk in force, rippled the entire surface of the sea.

Scoresby… Voyage to Australia

A brisk northeasterly wind was blowing, causing the bosom of the river to flash in ripples of light.

Black… Macleod of Dare

Mrs. Lander realized when the ship came to anchor in the stream at Liverpool that she had not been seasick a moment during the voyage. In the brisk cold of the winter morning, as they came ashore in the tug, she fancied a property of health in the European atmosphere, which she was sure would bring her right up, if she stayed long enough…

Howells… Ragged Lady

[…] the fire must be brisk and clear.

The Cook and Housewife’s Manual

A brisk shower, with severe thunder and lightning, came on about dusk

Poe… Arthur Gordon Pym

-) d. (Of a purgative, drug, etc.) too much effective; drastic.

[…] as our patient was costive, he was ordered to take five grains of calomel at bed-time, and to follow this with a brisk purgative on the following morning.

The Lancet, edited by Wakley

-) e. (Of any fact, as a trade, business, etc., in which interaction of agents occurs) concurring with the briskness of one or more of the participators.

It had been a brisk market.

Scott… Chronicles of The Canongate

Their small mill was only adapted for the supply of certain kinds of lumber, for which there was now not much demand, and they had not enough money to remodel it, while business would not get brisk again until the spring.

Harold Bindloss… Carmen's Messenger

[…] artificers in wood abounded, and the timber trade was brisk.

Thomas Hardy… A Changed Man and other Tales

When the supper, which was very brisk and gay, was over, and Captain Costigan and Mrs. Bolton had partaken of some of the rack-punch that is so fragrant at Vauxhall, the bill was called and discharged by Pen with great generosity […]

Thackeray… The History of Pendennis

He walked into the market while they were getting breakfast ready for him at the Inn; and though it was the same market as of old, crowded by the same buyers and sellers; brisk with the same business; noisy with the same confusion of tongues and cluttering of fowls in coops; […]; still it was strangely changed to Tom.

Dickens… Martin Chuzzlewit

There is naturally something so handy and brisk about you, Ruth, that if you said you could make a bowl of faultless turtle soup, I should believe you.

Dickens… Martin Chuzzlewit

-) English words derived from BRISK: brisk (verb), brisken, briskening, briskish, briskly, briskness, brisky, brisked, brisking.