breve

American  

[breev, brev] / briv, brɛv /

noun

breves plural

1. Phonetics, Orthography. a diacritic (˘) over a vowel to show that it is short, or to indicate a specific pronunciation, as ŭ in (kŭt) cut.

2. Law.

   1. an initial writ.

   2. a writ, as one issued by a court of law.

3. Music.

   1. the longest modern note, equivalent to two semibreves or whole notes.

   2. Also brevis a note in medieval mensural notation equal to one-half or one-third of a longa.

4. Prosody. a mark ( ˘ ) over a syllable to show that it is not stressed.

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breve British  

/ briːv /

noun

1. an accent, (˘), placed over a vowel to indicate that it is of short duration or is pronounced in a specified way

2. music a note, now rarely used, equivalent in time value to two semibreves

3. RC Church a less common word for brief

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• breves
  plural

Etymology

Origin of breve

1250–1300; Middle English < Medieval Latin, Latin breve, neuter of brevis short; see brief

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

breve breves

B. breve and B. longum bacteria groups were thought to be beneficial.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2024

One in particular, called B. breve, could help babies make the most of nutrients in breast milk and ward off bugs, preliminary tests suggest.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2024

His breve bid for the presidency will restore in the United States the ideals of Athenian democracy — or at least give us a good Greek yogurt parfait.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2019

The officer to the left, supposed to be the Second Remembrancer, holds a parchment containing the words, "Preceptum fuit Vice-comiti, per breve hujus Scaccarii."

From An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 by Cusack, Mary Frances

Where the consonant after an open syllable is in fact short, Orm often places a breve over the preceding short vowel....

From Selections from early Middle English, 1130-1250 Part I: Texts by Hall, Joseph

These missae breves, or short Masses, as Protestant churches used them in Bach’s time, retained only the Kyrie and Gloria of the Roman Catholic Mass, stopping short of the Credo for obvious reasons.

From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2015

The title-page of a book now before me runs as follows: "Kanuti Episcopi Vibergensis Quedam breves expositõs s legum et jurium cõcordantie et allegatiões circa leges iucie"; at the foot is "Ripis, M. Brand, MIƆIIII".

From Book Collecting: A Guide for Amateurs by Slater, J. Herbert (John Herbert)

O want of veneration! fools they seemed, But, persevering, with long breves, at last No more they shall be gaping greedy fools.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 5 by Motteux, Peter Anthony

Then come the roses--the beautiful June roses--the nimium breves flores of Horace.

From A Cotswold Village by Gibbs, J. Arthur

Macrons, breves, umlauts etc have been removed from the body of the text since they were very obtrusive and made reading difficult.

From "De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries by Caesar, Julius