Ep"i*thet , v. t. To describe by an epithet. [R.]
Never was a town better epitheted.
Sir H. Wotton.
Ep"i*thet (?), n. [L. epitheton, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; added, fr. &?; to add; 'epi` upon, to + &?; to put,
place: cf. F. épithète. See Do.]
1. An
adjective expressing some
quality, attribute, or relation, that is properly or specially appropriate
to a person
or thing; as, a just
man; a verdant lawn.
A prince [Henry III.] to whom the epithet "worthless"
seems best applicable.
Hallam.
2. Term; expression; phrase.
"Stuffed with epithets of
war." Shak.
Syn. -- Epithet,
Title. The name epithet was formerly extended to nouns which give a title
or describe character (as the "epithet of liar"), but
is now confined wholly to adjectives. Some rhetoricians, as Whately, restrict it still further, considering the term epithet as belonging only to a limited
class of adjectives, viz., those which add nothing to the sense of
their noun, but simply hold forth some quality necessarily implied therein; as, the bright sun, the lofty heavens, etc. But this restriction does not prevail in general literature. Epithet is sometimes confounded with application, which is always a noun
or its equivalent.
Hear it pronounced