Brevet Rank
Preserved but no longer current.
Titular rank without the pay that usually goes with it. A brevet major had the title of major, but the pay of captain, or whatever his substantive rank happened to be. (Fr. brevet, dim. of bref, a letter, a document.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Brevet Rank” mean?
Titular rank without the pay that usually goes with it. A brevet major had the title of major, but the pay of captain, or whatever his substantive rank happened to be. (Fr. brevet, dim. of bref, a letter, a document.
Is “Brevet Rank” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.