brusk

Adjective

brusque (comparative brusquer or more brusque, superlative brusquest or most brusque)

1. Rudely abrupt; curt, unfriendly.
   • Mr. VValler, being probably of opinion that Monſieur Palamede’s arguments vvere too bruſque to be advanc’d in a diſpute vvith a Lady, vvho number’d not fevver than tvventy Kings of her progenitors, vvrote this poem in a more tender and courtly ſtyle; […]1730, [Elijah] Fenton, “Observations on Some of Mr. Waller’s Poems. [To Zelinda.]”, in Edmund Waller, edited by [Elijah] Fenton, The Works of Edmund Waller, Esq; in Verse and Prose, London: […]...

   Synonyms:

   offhand, short

2. (obsolete) Sour, tart.
   • [T]he thin and bruske harſh vvine doth nouriſh the bodie leſſe, but yet more agreeable and nutritive it is to the ſtomack.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXIII.] The Medecines which Grapes Fresh and New Gathered doe Yeeld. […].”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World....

See all 5 meanings of brusque