Briefs

cards constructed on a cheating principle. See BRIDGE , CONCAVES and CONVEXES , LONGS , and SHORTS , REFLECTORS , . From the German , BRIEFE , which Baron Heinecken says was the name given to the cards manufactured at Ulm. Brief is also the synonym for a card in the German Rothwälsch dialect, and BRIEFEN to play at cards. “Item—beware of the Joners, (gamblers,) who practice Beseflery with the BRIEF , (cheating at cards,) who deal falsely and cut one for the other, cheat with Bogle in and spies, pick one BRIEF from the ground, and another from a cupboard,” .— Liber Vagatorum , ed. by Martin Luther, in 1529. English translation, by J. C. Hotten, 1860, p. 47. See BREEF .