All 8 Uses of
brief
in
The Age of Innocence
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- Newland Archer, during this brief episode, had been thrown into a strange state of embarrassment.†
Chpt 2 *
- From the tone of the club box he had perceived how grave a mistake that would be; and, though he was more than ever determined to "see the thing through," he felt less chivalrously eager to champion his betrothed's cousin than before their brief talk at the Opera.†
Chpt 3
- But when he had gone the brief round of her he returned discouraged by the thought that all this frankness and innocence were only an artificial product.†
Chpt 6
- He had meant to tell May of the Countess Olenska's request—her command, rather—that he should call on her that afternoon; but in the brief moments when they were alone he had had more pressing things to say.†
Chpt 9
- She drooped her head a little lower, and he waited again, intensely hoping for a flash of indignation, or at least a brief cry of denial.†
Chpt 12
- He was a pure man of letters, untimely born in a world that had no need of letters; but after publishing one volume of brief and exquisite literary appreciations, of which one hundred and twenty copies were sold, thirty given away, and the balance eventually destroyed by the publishers (as per contract) to make room for more marketable material, he had abandoned his real calling, and taken a sub-editorial job on a women's weekly, where fashion-plates and paper patterns alternated with…†
Chpt 14
- But now it was the Welland house, and the life he was expected to lead in it, that had become unreal and irrelevant, and the brief scene on the shore, when he had stood irresolute, halfway down the bank, was as close to him as the blood in his veins.†
Chpt 21
- In his brief letter to her he had made no allusion to M. Riviere's visit, and his intention had been to bury the incident in his bosom.†
Chpt 29
Definition:
-
(meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) Brief is most commonly encountered as an adjective meaning "of short duration." Other meanings derive from the idea of short--as when making a long story short by summarizing it, or when wearing briefs (underwear).