epigone2 (epigon)

[ [Not in use.] epigram (ep'i-gram), n. [Formerly epigram me; F. épigramme = Sp. epigram a = Pg. It. epi gramma = G. epigramm = Dan. Sw. epigram, little piece of expre ing with precision a delicate or ingenious thought, as the pieces in the Greek Antholonte In Roman cla ical poetry the term was somewhat indiscriminately used to designate a short piece in verse; but the works of Catullus, and especially the epigrams of Mar tial, contain a great number with the modern epigram matic character. This Epigram me is but an inscription or writting made as it were vpon a table, or in a windowe, or vpon the wall or mantell of a chimney in some place of common resort. Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 43. sense. Probably the first application of the newly adapted art [engraving words on stone or metal] was in dedicatory inscriptions or epigrams , to use this word in its original C. T. Newton, Art and Archæol., p. 100. Hence-2. In a restricted sense, a short poem or piece in verse, which has only one subject, and finishes by a witty or ingenious turn of thought; hence, in a general sense, an interesting thought represented happily in a few words, whether verse or prose, a pointed or antithetical saying. The qualities rare in a bee that we meet In an epigram never should fail; The body should always be little and sweet, And a sting should be left in its tail. Trans, from Latin (author unknown). epigraphic Those remarkable poems have been undervalued by critics who have not understood their nature. They have no epigrammatic point. Macaulay . epigrammatical (epi-gra-mat'i-kal), a . [ epi grammatic + -al .] Same as epigrammatic . Our good epigrammatical poet, old Godfrey of Winchester, think eth no ominous forespeaking to lie in names. Camden . Had this old song ["Chevy Chase"] been filled with epi grammatical turns and points of wit, it might perhaps have pleased the wrong taste of some readers. Spectator , No. 74. epigrammatically (ep"i-gra-mat'i-kal-i), adv. In an epigrammatic manner or style; tersely and pointedly. It has been put epigrammatically , that formerly nobody in Oxford was married except the heads, but that now the heads are the only people who remain unmarried. Contemporary Rev. , LI. 611. epigrammatism (ep-i-gram'a-tizm), n. [ epi grammat-ic + -ism.] The use of epigrams; epigrammatical character. The latter (derivation] would be greedily seized by nine philologists out of ten, for no better cause than its epi grammatism. Poe , Marginalia, lxvii.