brief vs say

brief

noun
  • A writ summoning one to answer; an official letter or mandate. 

  • An answer to any action. 

  • A position of interest or advocacy. 

  • An attorney's legal argument in written form for submission to a court. 

  • A short news story or report. 

  • A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case. 

  • The material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who is counsel for the case. 

  • A ticket of any type. 

  • A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose. 

  • A barrister who is counsel for a party in a legal action. 

  • underwear briefs. 

adj
  • Of short duration; happening quickly. 

  • Concise; taking few words. 

  • Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short. 

verb
  • To summarize a recent development to some person with decision-making power. 

  • To write a legal argument and submit it to a court. 

say

noun
  • A chance to speak; the right or power to influence or make a decision. 

  • Tried quality; temper; proof. 

  • Essay; trial; attempt. 

  • Trial by sample; assay; specimen. 

  • A strainer for milk. 

adv
  • Pick a color you think they'd like, say, peach. 

  • For example; let us assume. 

intj
  • Used to gain someone's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion 

verb
  • Suppose, assume; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis. 

  • To tell, either verbally or in writing. 

  • To indicate in a written form. 

  • To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact. 

  • To recite. 

  • To pronounce. 

  • To try; to assay. 

  • To bet as a wager on an outcome; by extension, used to express belief in an outcome by the speaker. 

  • To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply. 

How often have the words brief and say occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )