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terse

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terse

  [turs]
Use terse in a Sentence
–adjective ters⋅er, ters⋅est.
1. neatly or effectively concise; brief and pithy, as language.
2. abruptly concise; curt; brusque.
Origin:
1595–1605; < L tersus, ptp. of tergēre to rub off, wipe off, clean, polish

Related forms:
tersely, adverb
terseness, noun

Synonyms:
1. succinct, compact, neat, concentrated. 1, 2. See concise.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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terse   (tûrs)   
adj.   ters·er, ters·est
Brief and to the point; effectively concise: a terse one-word answer.

[Latin tersus, past participle of tergēre, to cleanse.]
terse'ly adv., terse'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

terse 
1599 (implied in tersely), "clean-cut, burnished, neat," from Fr. ters "clean," from L. tersus "wiped off, clean, neat," from pp. of tergere "to rub, polish, wipe." Sense of "concise or pithy in style or language" is from 1777, which led to a general sense of "neatly concise." The pejorative meaning "brusque" is a fairly recent development.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

Terse
Language for decryption of hardware logic.
["Hardware Logic Simulation by Compilation", C. Hansen, 25th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conf, 1988].

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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