epicure (epikur)

[ Here [Isa. xiv. 14] he describeth the fur ye of the Epi cures (which is the highest and depest misc he if of all impiete); even to contempne the very God. Joye, Expos, of Dan., xii. Lucretius the poet... would have been seven times more epicure and atheist than he was. Bacon, Unity in Religion (ed. 1887). 2. Popularly (owing to a misrepresentation of the ethical part of the doctrines of Epicurus), one given up to sensual enjoyment, and especially to the pleasures of eating and drinking; a gormand; a person of luxurious tastes and habits. Cæs . Will this description satisfy him? Ant . With the health that Pompey gives him; else he is a very epicure . Shak ., A. and C., ii. 7. Live while you live, the epicure would say, And seize the pleasures of the present day. Doddridge , Epigram on his Family Arms. =Syn. 2. Epicure , Gourmet , and Gormand agree in representing one who cares a great deal for the pleasures of the table. The epicure selects with a fastidious taste, but is luxurious in the supply of that which he likes. The gour met is a connoi eur in food and drink, and a dainty feeder. The gormand differs from a glutton only in having a more discriminating taste. epicuret (ep'i-kūr), v. i. [ epicure , n.] To live like an epicure; epicurize. They did Epicure it in daily exceed ings, as indeed where should men fare well, if not in a King's Hall? Fuller , Hist. Cambridge, II. 48. epicure alt (ep-i-kūrē-al), a. [ But these are epic ureal tenets, tending to loosene of life, luxury, and atheism. Burton , Anat. of Mel., p. 387. Epicurean (epi-ku-rē'an), a. and n. [F. Epi curien (cf. Sp. Epicureo = Pg. It. Epicureo ), Epic IMG:content-0597.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-0598.png:[graphic] IMG:content-0599.png:[blocks in formation] Epicurean only po ible end of rational action, and that the ultimate pleasure is freedom from disturbance. In logic the Epi cureans are distinguished from all the other ancient schools, not only in maintaining an experiential theory of cognition and the validity of inductive reasoning, but also in denying the value of definitions, syllogism, and the other apparatus of the a prior i method. Like J. S. Mill, they based induction upon the uniformity of nature. Epicurus was very strenuous in the advocacy of natural causes for all phenomena, and in resisting hypotheses of the interference of supernatural beings in nature. He adopted the atomistic theory of Demo crit us, while bringing into it the doctrine of chance, which is the very life of that theory. His views were thus more like those of a modern scientist than were those of any other philosopher of antiquity. Owing, however, to the natural repugnance to doctrines school have been much hated and abused; so that an Epi seeming lower the nature of man, Epicurus and his cure an has come to mean also a mere votary of pleasure. See 2. I know it, and smile a hard-set smile, like a stoic, or like A wiser epicurean, and let the world have its way. Tennyson, Maud, iv. 4. IMG:content-0600.png:[blocks in formation] 2. [l. c.] Attachment to or indulgence in luxurious habits; fondne for good living. See epicure, n., 2. epicurelyt (ep'i-kūr-li), adv. [ His horses are provendered as epicurely . Nashe , Lenten Stuffe (Harl. Misc., VI. 179). epicure oust, a. [L. Epicure us , D. Samson, late B. of Chi chester, and now the double faced epicure ous bite-sheepe of Co. Lich. Bp. Gardiner, True Obedience, Translator to the Reader. epicurism (ep'i-kūr-izm), n. [= D. epikuris mus = G. epikuräismus = Dan. epikurœis me = Sw. epikurism, Infidelity, or modern Deism, is little else but revived Epicure ism , Sadducism, and Zendichism. Water land , Works, VIII. 80. IMG:content-0601.png:[blocks in formation] Marvell , Works, II. 60.