In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
crisp, curt, laconic, terse
(adjective) brief and to the point; effectively cut short; “a crisp retort”; “a response so curt as to be almost rude”; “the laconic reply; ‘yes’”; “short and terse and easy to understand”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
laconic (comparative more laconic, superlative most laconic)
Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise.
• concise, pithy, terse
• bombastic, long-winded, verbose, loquacious, prolix
• calcino, calocin, cloacin, colanic, conical
Source: Wiktionary
La*con"ic, La*con"ic*al, a. Etym: [L. Laconicus Laconian, Gr. laconique.]
1. Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the Laconians or Spartans; brief and pithy; brusque; epigrammatic. In this sense laconic is the usual form. I grow laconic even beyond laconicism; for sometimes I return only yes, or no, to questionary or petitionary epistles of half a yard long. Pope. His sense was strong and his style laconic. Welwood.
2. Laconian; characteristic of, or like, the Spartans; hence, stern or severe; cruel; unflinching. His head had now felt the razor, his back the rod; all that laconical discipline pleased him well. Bp. Hall.
Syn.
– Short; brief; concise; succinct; sententious; pointed; pithy.
– Laconic, Concise. Concise means without irrelevant or superfluous matter; it is the opposite of diffuse. Laconic means concise with the additional quality of pithiness, sometimes of brusqueness.
La*con"ic, n.
Definition: Laconism. [Obs.] Addison.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
21 April 2025
(noun) a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty
In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.