lasting or taking a short time; of short duration: a brief walk; a brief stay in the country.
2.
using few words; concise; succinct: a brief report on weather conditions.
3.
abrupt or curt.
4.
scanty: a brief bathing suit.
noun
5.
a short and concise statement or written item.
6.
an outline, the form of which is determined by set rules, of all the possible arguments and information on one side of a controversy: a debater's brief.
7.
Law.
a.
a writ summoning one to answer to any action.
b.
a memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.
c.
a written argument submitted to a court.
d.
(in England) the material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who tries the case.
8.
an outline, summary, or synopsis, as of a book.
9.
briefs, (used with a plural verb) close-fitting, legless underpants with an elastic waistband.
from L. breve (gen. brevis), noun derivative of L. adj. brevis (see brief (adj.)) which came to mean "letter, summary" (specifically a letter of the pope, less ample and solemn than a bull), and came to mean "letter of authority," which yielded the modern, legal sense of "summary
of the facts of a case" (1630s). The verb meaning "to give instructions or information to" (1866) was originally "to instruct by a brief" (1862); hence briefing, first attested 1910 but popularized by WWII pre-flight conferences.