The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Terse \Terse\, a. [Compar. Terser; superl. Tersest.] [L.
   tersus, p. p. of tergere to rub or wipe off.]
   1. Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth;
      polished. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Many stones, . . . although terse and smooth, have
            not this power attractive.            --Sir T.
                                                  Browne.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Refined; accomplished; -- said of persons. [R. & Obs.]
      "Your polite and terse gallants." --Massinger.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Elegantly concise; free of superfluous words; polished to
      smoothness; as, terse language; a terse style.
      [1913 Webster]

            Terse, luminous, and dignified eloquence.
                                                  --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

            A poet, too, was there, whose verse
            Was tender, musical, and terse.       --Longfellow.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Neat; concise; compact.

   Usage: Terse, Concise. Terse was defined by Johnson
          "cleanly written", i. e., free from blemishes, neat or
          smooth. Its present sense is "free from excrescences,"
          and hence, compact, with smoothness, grace, or
          elegance, as in the following lones of Whitehead:
          [1913 Webster]

                "In eight terse lines has Phaedrus told
                (So frugal were the bards of old)
                A tale of goats; and closed with grace,
                Plan, moral, all, in that short space."
          [1913 Webster] It differs from concise in not
          implying, perhaps, quite as much condensation, but
          chiefly in the additional idea of "grace or elegance."
          [1913 Webster] -- Terse"ly, adv. -- Terse"ness, n.
          [1913 Webster]