An epitome of English fashionable life.
Carlyle.
A man so various that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome.
Dryden.
Syn. -- Abridgement; compendium; compend; abstract; synopsis; abbreviature. See Abridgment.
E*pit"o*mist (?), n. One who makes an epitome; one who abridges; an epitomizer. Milton.
E*pit"o*mize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Epitomized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Epitomizing.] 1. To make an epitome of; to shorten or abridge, as a writing or discourse; to reduce within a smaller space; as, to epitomize the works of Justin.
2. To diminish, as by cutting off something; to curtail; as, to epitomize words. [Obs.] Addison.
E*pit"o*mi`zer (?), n. An epitomist. Burton.
Ep"i*trite (?), n. [Gr. &?; containing an integer and one third (i. e., , or in the ratio of 4 to 3); 'epi` upon, over + &?; the third: cf. L. epitritos, F. épitrite.] (Gr. & Lat. Pros.) A foot consisting of three long syllables and one short syllable.
It is so called from being compounded of a spondee (which contains 4 times) with an iambus or a trochee (which contains 3 times). It is called 1st, 2d, 3d, or 4th epitrite according as the short syllable stands 1st, 2d, etc.
||Ep`i*troch"le*a (?), n. [NL. See Epi-, and Trochlea.] (Anat.) A projection on the outer side of the distal end of the humerus; the external condyle.
Ep`i*troch"le*ar (?), a. Relating to the epitrochlea.
Ep`i*tro"choid (?), n. [Pref. epi- + Gr. &?; wheel + -oid.] (Geom.) A kind of curve. See Epicycloid, any Trochoid.
||E*pit"ro*pe (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?; reference, arbitration, fr. &?; to turn over, to give up, yield; 'epi` upon, over + &?; to turn.] (Rhet.) A figure by which permission is either seriously or ironically granted to some one, to do what he proposes to do; e. g., "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still."
||Ep`i*zeux"is (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?; a fastening together, repetition, fr. &?; to fasten to or upon; 'epi` upon + &?; to join, yoke.] (Rhet.) A figure by which a word is repeated with vehemence or emphasis, as in the following lines: -
Alone, alone, all all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea.
Coleridge.
Ep`i*zo"an (?), n. (Zoöl.) An epizoön.
Ep`i*zo"ic (?), a. (Zoöl.) Living upon the exterior of another animal; ectozoic; -- said of external parasites.
||Ep`i*zo"ön (?), n.; pl. Epizoa (#). [NL., fr. Gr. 'epi` upon + zw^,on animal.] (Zoöl.) One of the artificial group of invertebrates of various kinds, which live parasitically upon the exterior of other animals; an ectozoön. Among them are the lice, ticks, many acari, the lerneans, or fish lice, and other crustaceans.
Ep`i*zo*öt"ic (?), a. [Cf. F. épizoötique.] 1. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to an epizoön.
2. (Geol.) Containing fossil remains; -- said of rocks, formations, mountains, and the like. [Obs.]
Epizoötic mountains are of secondary formation.
Kirwan.
3. Of the nature of a disease which attacks many animals at the same time; -- corresponding to epidemic diseases among men.
{ Ep`i*zo"ö*ty (?), Ep`i*zo*öt"ic (?) }, n. [F. épizoötie.] An epizoötic disease; a murrain; an epidemic influenza among horses.
Ep"och (p"k or "pk; 277), n. [LL. epocha, Gr. 'epochh` check, stop, an epoch of a star, an historical epoch, fr. 'epe`chein to hold on, check; 'epi` upon + 'e`chein to have, hold; akin to Skr. sah to overpower, Goth. sigis victory, AS. sigor, sige, G. sieg: cf. F. époque. See Scheme.] 1. A fixed point of time, established in history by the occurrence of some grand or remarkable event; a point of time marked by an event of great subsequent influence; as, the epoch of the creation; the birth of Christ was the epoch which gave rise to the Christian era.
In divers ages, . . . divers epochs of time were used.
Usher.
Great epochs and crises in the kingdom of God.
Trench.
The acquittal of the bishops was not the only event which makes the 30th of June, 1688, a great epoch in history.
Macaulay.
Epochs mark the beginning of new historical periods, and dates are often numbered from them.
2. A period of time, longer or shorter, remarkable for events of great subsequent influence; a memorable period; as, the epoch of maritime discovery, or of the Reformation. "So vast an epoch of time." F. Harrison.
The influence of Chaucer continued to live even during the dreary interval which separates from one another two important epochs of our literary history.
A. W. Ward.
3. (Geol.) A division of time characterized by the prevalence of similar conditions of the earth; commonly a minor division or part of a period.
The long geological epoch which stored up the vast coal measures.
J. C. Shairp.
4. (Astron.) (a) The date at which a planet or comet has a longitude or position. (b) An arbitrary fixed date, for which the elements used in computing the place of a planet, or other heavenly body, at any other date, are given; as, the epoch of Mars; lunar elements for the epoch March 1st, 1860.
Syn. -- Era; time; date; period; age. -- Epoch, Era. We speak of the era of the Reformation, when we think of it as a period, during which a new order of things prevailed; so also, the era of good feeling, etc. Had we been thinking of the time as marked by certain great events, or as a period in which great results were effected, we should have called the times when these events happened epochs, and the whole period an epoch.
The capture of Constantinople is an epoch in the history of Mahometanism; but the flight of Mahomet is its era.