Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

EPICUREAN — EQUICRURAL

EPICUREAN, a. [L. epicureus.] Pertaining to Epicurus; as the Epicurean philosophy or tenets.

1. Luxurious; given to luxury; contributing to the luxuries of the table.

EPICUREAN, n. A follower of Epicurus.

EPICUREANISM, n. Attachment to the doctrines of Epicurus.

EPICURISM, n. Luxury; sensual enjoyments; indulgence in gross pleasure; voluptuousness.

1. The doctrines of Epicurus.

EPICURIZE, v.i. To feed or indulge like an epicure; to riot; to feast.

1. To profess the doctrines of Epicurus.

EPICYCLE, n. [Gr. a circle.] A little circle, whose center is in the circumference of a greater circle; or a small orb, which, being fixed in the deferent of a planet, is carried along with it, and yet by its own peculiar motion, carries the body of the planet fastened to it round its proper center.

EPICYCLOID, n. [Gr. form.] In geometry, a curve generated by the revolution of the periphery of a circle along the convex or concave side of the periphery of another circle.

A curve generated by any point in the plane of a movable circle which rolls on the inside or outside of the circumference of a fixed circle.

EPICYCLOIDAL, a. Pertaining to the epicycloid, or having its properties.

EPIDEMIC, EPIDEMICAL, a. [Gr. people.] Common to many people. An epidemic disease is one which seizes a great number of people, at the same time, or in the same season. Thus we speak of epidemic measles; epidemic fever; epidemic catarrh. It is used in distinction from endemic or local. Intemperate persons have every thing to fear from an epidemic influenza.

1. Generally prevailing; affecting great numbers; as epidemic rage; an epidemic evil.

EPIDEMIC, n. A popular disease; a disease generally prevailing. The influenza of October and November 1789, that of March and April 1790, that of the winter 1824-25, and of 1825-26, were very severe epidemics.

EPIDERMIC, EPIDERMIDAL, a. Pertaining to the cuticle; covering the skin.

The epidermic texture.

EPIDERMIS, n. [Gr. skin.] In anatomy, the cuticle or scarf-skin of the body; a thin membrane covering the skin of animals, or the bark of plants.

EPIDOTE, n. [From Gr.; so named from the apparent enlargement of the base of the prism in one direction. It is called by Werner, pistazit, and by Hausmann, thallit.]

A mineral occurring in lamellar, granular or compact masses, in loose grains, or in prismatic crystals of six or eight sides, and sometimes ten or twelve. Its color is commonly some shade of green, yellowish, bluish or blackish green. It has two varieties, zoisite and aranaceous or granular epidote.

Epidote is granular or manganesian.

EPIGASTRIC, a. [Gr. belly.] Pertaining to the upper part of the abdomen; as the epigastric region; the epigastric arteries and veins.

EPIGEE or EPIGEUM. [See Perigee.]

EPIGLOT, EPIGLOTTIS, n. [Gr. the tongue.] In anatomy, one of the cartilages of the larynx, whose use is to cover the glottis, when food or drink is passing into the stomach, to prevent it from entering the larynx and obstructing the breath.

EPIGRAM, n. [Gr. inscription; a writing.] A short poem treating only of one thing, and ending with some lively, ingenious and natural thought. Conciseness and point form the beauty of epigrams.

Epigrams were originally inscriptions on tombs, statues, temples, triumphal arches, etc.

EPIGRAMMATIC, EPIGRAMMATICAL, a. Writing epigrams; dealing in epigrams; as an epigrammatic poet.

1. Suitable to epigrams; belonging to epigrams; like an epigram; concise; pointed; poignant; as epigrammatic style or wit.

EPIGRAMMATIST, n. One who composes epigrams, or deals in them. Martial was a noted epigrammatist.

EPIGRAPH, n. [Gr. to write.] Among antiquaries, an inscription on a building, pointing out the time of its erection, the building, its uses, etc.

EPILEPSY, n. [Gr. to seize.] The falling sickness, so called because the patient falls suddenly to the ground; a disease accompanied with spasms or convulsions and loss of sense.

EPILEPTIC, a. Pertaining to the falling sickness; affected with epilepsy; consisting of epilepsy.

EPILEPTIC, n. One affected with epilepsy.

EPILOGISM, n. Computation; enumeration.

EPILOGISTIC, a. Pertaining to epilogue; of the nature of an epilogue.

EPILOGUE, n. ep’ilog. [L. epilogus, from Gr. conclusion; to conclude; to speak.]

1. In oratory, a conclusion; the closing part of a discourse, in which the principal matters are recapitulated.

2. In the drama, a speech or short poem addressed to the spectators by one of the actors, after the conclusion of the play.

EPILOGUIZE, EPILOGIZE, v.i. To pronounce an epilogue.

EPILOGUIZE, v.t. To add to, in the manner of an epilogue.

EPINICION, n. [Gr. to conquer.] A song of triumph. [Not in use.]

EPIPHANY, n. [Gr. appearance; to appear.] A christian festival celebrated on the sixth day of January, the twelfth day after Christmas, in commemoration of the appearance of our Savior to the magians or philosophers of the East, who came to adore him with presents; or as others maintain, to commemorate the appearance of the star to the magians, or the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Jerome and Chrysostom take the epiphany to be the day of our Savior’s baptism, when a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Greek fathers use the word for the appearance of christ in the world, the sense in which Paul used the word. 2 Timothy 1:10.

EPIPHONEM, EPIPHONEMA, [Gr. exclamation, to cry out.] In oratory, an exclamation; an ecphonesis; a vehement utterance of the voice to express strong passion, in a sentence not closely connected with the general strain of the discourse; as, O mournful day! Miserable fate! Admirable clemency!

EPHIPORA, n. [Gr. to bear.] The watery eye; a disease in which the tears, from increased secretion, or an obstruction in the lachrymal duct, accumulate in front of the eye and trickle over the cheek.

EPIPHYLLOSPERMOUS, a. [Gr. a leaf, and seed.] In botany, bearing their seeds on the back of the leaves, as ferns.

EPIPHYSIS, EPIPHYSY, n. [Gr. to grow.] Accretion; the growing of one bone to another by simple contiguity, without a proper articulation.

The spongy extremity of a bone; any portion of a bone growing on another, but separated from it by a cartilage.

Epiphyses are appendixes of the long bones, for the purpose of articulation, formed from a distinct center of ossification, and in the young subject connected with the larger bones by an intervening cartilage, which in the adult is obliterated.

EPIPLOCE, EPIPLOCY, n. [Gr. implication; to fold.] A figure of rhetoric, by which one aggravation, or striking circumstance, is added in due gradation to another; as, “He not only spared his enemies, but continued them in employment; not only continued them, but advanced them.”

EPIPLOCELE, n. [Gr. the caul, and a tumor.] A rupture of the caul or omentum.

EPIPLOIC, a. [Gr. the caul.] Pertaining to the caul or omentum.

EPIPLOON, n. [Gr.] The caul or omentum.

EPISCOPACY, n. [L. episcopatus; Gr. to inspect, to see. See Bishop.]

Government of the church by bishops; that form of ecclesiastical government, in which diocesan bishops are established, as distinct from and superior to priests or presbyters.

EPISCOPAL, a. Belonging to or vested in bishops or prelates; as episcopal jurisdiction; episcopal authority.

1. Governed by bishops; as the episcopal church.

EPISCOPALIAN, a. Pertaining to bishops or government by bishops; episcopal.

EPISCOPALIAN, n. One who belongs to an episcopal church, or adheres to the episcopal form of church government and discipline.

EPISCOPALLY, adv. By episcopal authority; in an episcopal manner.

EPISCOPATE, n. A bishopric; the office and dignity of a bishop.

1. The order of bishops.

EPISCOPATE, v.i. To act as a bishop; to fill the office of a prelate.

EPISCOPY, n. Survey; superintendence; search.

EPISODE, n. [From the Gr.] In poetry, a separate incident, story or action, introduced for the purpose of giving a greater variety to the events related in the poem; an incidental narrative, or digression, separable from the main subject, but naturally arising from it.

EPISODIC, EPISODICAL, a. Pertaining to an episode; contained in an episode or digression.

EPISODICALLY, adv. By way of episode.

EPISPASTIC, a. [Gr. to draw.] In medicine, drawing; attracting the humors to the skin; exciting action in the skin; blistering.

EPISPASTIC, n. A topical remedy, applied to the external part of the body, for the purpose of drawing the humors to the part, or exciting action in the skin; a blister.

EPISTILBITE, n. A mineral, said to be the same as the heulandite.

EPISTLE, n. epis’l. [L. epistola; Gr. to send to; to send.]

A writing, directed or sent, communicating intelligence to a distant person; a letter; a letter missive. It is rarely used in familiar conversation or writings, but chiefly in solemn or formal transactions. It is used particularly in speaking of the letters of the Apostles, as the epistles of Paul; and of other letters written by the ancients, as the epistles of Pliny or of Cicero.

EPISTLER, n. A writer of epistles. [Little used.]

1. Formerly, one who attended the communion table and read the epistles.

EPISTOLARY, a. Pertaining to epistles or letters; suitable to letters and correspondence; familiar; as an epistolary style.

1. Contained in letters; carried on by letters; as an epistolary correspondence.

EPISTOLIC, EPISTOLICAL, a. Pertaining to letters or epistles.

1. Designating the method of representing ideas by letters and words.

EPISTOLIZE, v.i. To write epistles or letters.

EPISTOLIZER, n. A writer of epistles.

EPISTOLOGRAPHIC, a. Pertaining to the writing of letters.

EPISTOLOGRAPHY, n. [Gr. a letter, to write.] The art or practice of writing letters.

EPISTROPHE, EPISTROPHY, n. [Gr. a return.] A figure, in rhetoric, in which several successive sentences end with the same word or affirmation.

EPISTYLE, n. [Gr. a column.]

In ancient architecture, a term used by the Greeks for what is now called the architrave, a massive piece of stone or wood laid immediately over the capital of a column or pillar.

EPITAPH, n. [Gr. a sepulcher.]

1. An inscription on a monument, in honor or memory of the dead.

The epitaphs of the present day are crammed with fulsome compliments never merited.

Can you look forward to the honor of a decorated coffin, a splendid funeral, a towering monument--it may be a lying epitaph.

2. An eulogy, in prose or verse, composed without any intent to be engraven on a monument, as that on Alexander:

“Sufficit huic tumulus, cui non sufficeret orbis.”

EPITAPHIAN, a. Pertaining to an epitaph.

EPITHALAMIUM, EPITHALAMY, n. [Gr. a bed-chamber.] A nuptial song or poem, in praise of the bride and bridegroom, and praying for their prosperity.

The forty fifth Psalm is an epithalamium to Christ and the church.

EPITHEM, n. [Gr. to place.] In pharmacy, a kind of fomentation or poultice, to be applied externally to strengthen the part.

Any external application, or topical medicine. The term has been restricted to liquids in which cloths are dipped, to be applied to a part.

EPITHET, n. [Gr. a name added; to place.] An adjective expressing some real quality of the thing to which it is applied, or an attributive expressing some quality ascribed to it; as a verdant lawn; a brilliant appearance; a just man; an accurate description.

It is sometimes used for title, name, phrase or expression; but improperly.

EPITHET, v.t. To entitle; to describe by epithets.

EPITHETIC, a. Pertaining to an epithet or epithets.

1. Abounding with epithets. A style or composition may be too epithetic.

EPITHUMETIC, EPITHUMETICAL, a. [Gr.] Inclined to lust; pertaining to the animal passion.

EPITOME, EPITOMY, n. [Gr. to cut, a cutting, a section.] An abridgment; a brief summary or abstract of any book or writing; a compendium containing the substance or principal matters of a book.

Epitomes are helpful to the memory.

EPITOMIST, n. An epitomizer.

EPITOMIZE, v.t. To shorten or abridge, as a writing or discourse; to abstract, in a summary, the principal matters of a book; to contract into a narrower compass. Xiphilin epitomized Dion’s Roman History.

1. To diminish; to curtail. [Less proper.]

EPITOMIZED, pp. Abridged; shortened; contracted into a smaller compass, as a book or writing.

EPITOMIZER, n. One who abridges; a writer of an epitome.

EPITOMIZING, ppr. Abridging; shortening; making a summary.

EPITRITE, n. [Gr. third.] In prosody, a foot consisting of three long syllables and one short one; as salutantes, concitati, incantare.

EPITROPE, EPITROPY, n. [Gr. to permit.] In rhetoric, concession; a figure by which one thing is granted, with a view to obtain an advantage; as, I admit all this may be true, but what is this to the purpose? I concede the fact, but it overthrows your own argument.

EPIZOOTIC, a. [Gr. animal.] In geology, an epithet given to such mountains as contain animal remains in their natural or in a petrified state, or the impressions of animal substances.

Epizootic mountains are of secondary formation.

EPIZOOTY, n. [supra.] A murrain or pestilence among irrational animals.

EPOCH, n. [L. epocha; Gr. retention, delay, stop, to inhibit; to hold.]

1. In chronology, a fixed point of time, from which succeeding years are numbered; a point from which computation of years begins. The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, and the Babylonish captivity, are remarkable epochs in their history.

2. Any fixed time or period; the period when any thing begins or is remarkably prevalent; as the epoch of falsehood; the epoch of woe.

The fifteenth century was the unhappy epoch of military establishments in time of peace.

EPODE, n. [Gr. ode.] In lyric poetry, the third or last part of the ode; that which follows the strophe and antistrophe; the ancient ode being divided into strophe, antistrophe and epode. The word is now used as the name of any little verse or verses, that follow one or more great ones. Thus a pentameter after a hexameter is an epode.

EPOPEE, n. [Gr. a song, to make.] An epic poem. More properly, the history, action or fable, which makes the subject of an epic poem.

EPOS, n. [Gr.] An epic poem, or its fable or subject.

Epsom salt, the sulphate of magnesia, a cathartic.

EPULARY, a. [L. epularis, from epulum, a feast.] Pertaining to a feast or banquet.

EPULATION, a. [L. eppulatio, from epulor, to feast.] A feasting or feast.

EPULOTIC, a. [Gr. to heal, to cicatrize; a cicatrix, to be sound, whole.] Healing; cicatrizing.

EPULOTIC, n. A medicament or application which tends to dry, cicatrize and heal wounds or ulcers, to repress fungous flesh and dispose the parts to recover soundness.

EQUABILITY, n. [See Equable.] Equality in motion; continued equality, at all times, in velocity or movement; uniformity; as the equability of the motion of a heavenly body, or of the blood in the arteries and veins.

1. Continued equality; evenness or uniformity; as the equability of the temperature of the air; the equability of the mind.

EQUABLE, a. [L. oequabilis, from oequus, equal, even, oeguo, to equal, to level.]

1. Equal and uniform at all times, as motion. An equable motion continues the same in degree of velocity, neither accelerated nor retarded.

2. Even; smooth; having a uniform surface or form; as an equable glove or plain.

EQUABLY, adv. With an equal or uniform motion; with continued uniformity; evenly; as, bodies moving equably in concentric circles.

EQUAL, a. [L. oegualis, from oequus, equal, even, oeguo, to equal, perhaps Gr. similar.]

1. Having the same magnitude or dimensions; being of the same bulk or extent; as an equal quantity of land; a house of equal size; two persons of equal bulk; an equal line or angle.

2. Having the same value; as two commodities of equal price or worth.

3. Having the same qualities or condition; as two men of equal rank or excellence; two bodies of equal hardness or softness.

4. Having the same degree; as two motions of equal velocity.

5. Even; uniform; not variable; as an equal temper or mind.

Ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal. Ezekiel 18:25.

6. Being in just proportion; as, my commendation is not equal to his merit.

7. Impartial; neutral; not biased.

Equal and unconcerned, I look on all.

8. Indifferent; of the same interest or concern. He may receive them or not, it is equal to me.

9. Just; equitable; giving the same or similar rights or advantages. The terms and conditions of the contract are equal.

10. Being on the same terms; enjoying the same or similar benefits.

They made the married, orphans, widows, yea and the aged also, equal in spoils with themselves.

11. Adequate; having competent power, ability or means. The ship is not equal to her antagonist. The army was not equal to the contest. We are not equal to the undertaking.

EQUAL, n. One not inferior or superior to another; having the same or a similar age, rank, station, office, talents, strength, etc.

Those who were once his equals, envy and defame him.

It was thou, a man my equal, my guide. Psalm 55:13; Galatians 1:14.

EQUAL, v.t. To make equal; to make one thing of the same quantity, dimensions or quality as another.

1. To rise to the same state, rank or estimation with another; to become equal to. Few officers can expect to equal Washington in fame.

2. To be equal to.

One whose all not equals Edward’s moiety.

3. To make equivalent to; to recompense fully; to answer in full proportion.

He answer’d all her cares, and equal’d all her love.

4. To be of like excellence or beauty.

The gold and the crystal cannot equal it. Job 28:17.

EQUALITY, n. [L. oequalitas.] An agreement of things in dimensions, quantity or quality; likeness; similarity in regard to two things compared. We speak of the equality of two or more tracts of land, of two bodies in length, breadth or thickness, of virtues or vices.

1. The same degree of dignity or claims; as the equality of men in the scale of being; the equality of nobles of the same rank; an equality of rights.

2. Evenness; uniformity; sameness in state or continued course; as an equality of temper or constitution.

3. Evenness; plainness; uniformity; as an equality of surface.

EQUALIZATION, n. The act of equalizing, or state of being equalized.

EQUALIZE, v.t. To make equal; as, to equalize accounts; to equalize burdens or taxes.

EQUALIZED, pp. Made equal; reduced to equality.

EQUALIZING, ppr. Making equal.

EQUALLY, adv. In the same degree with another; alike; as, to be equally taxed; to be equally virtuous or vicious; to be equally impatient, hungry, thirsty, swift or slow; to be equally furnished.

1. In equal shares or proportions. The estate is to be equally divided among the heirs.

2. Impartially; with equal justice.

EQUALNESS, n. Equality; a state of being equal.

1. Evenness; uniformity; as the equalness of a surface.

EQUANGULAR, a. [L. oequus and angulus.] Consisting of equal angles. [See Equiangular, which is generally used.]

EQUANIMITY, n. [L. oequanimitas; oequus and animus, an equal mind.] Evenness of mind; that calm temper or firmness of mind which is not easily elated or depressed, which sustains prosperity without excessive joy, and adversity without violent agitation of the passions or depression of spirits. The great man bears misfortunes with equanimity.

EQUANIMOUS, a. Of an even, composed frame of mind; of a steady temper; not easily elated or depressed.

EQUATION, n. [L. oequatio, from oequo, to make equal or level.]

1. Literally, a making equal, or an equal division.

2. In algebra, a proposition asserting the equality of two quantities, and expressed by the sign=between them; or an expression of the same quantity in two dissimilar terms, but of equal value, as 3s=36d, or x=br. In the latter case, x is equal to be added to m, with r subtracted, and the quantities on the right hand of the sign of equation are said to be the value of x on the left hand.

3. In astronomy, the reduction of the apparent time or motion of the sun to equable, mean or true time.

4. The reduction of any extremes to a mean proportion.

EQUATOR, n. [L. from oequo, to make equal.] In astronomy and geography, a great circle of the sphere, equally distant from the two poles of the world, or having the same poles as the world. It is called equator, because when the sun is in it, the days and nights are of equal length; hence it is called also the equinoctial, and when drawn on maps, globes and planispheres, it is called the equinoctial line, or simply the line. Every point in the equator is 90 degrees or a quadrant’s distance from the poles; hence it divides the globe or sphere into two equal hemispheres, the northern and southern. At the meridian, the equator rises as much above the horizon as is the complement of the latitude of the place.

EQUATORIAL, a. Pertaining to the equator; as equatorial climates. The equatorial diameter of the earth is longer than the polar diameter.

EQUERY, EQUERRY, n. [Low L. scutarius, from scutum, a shield. See Esquire.]

1. An officer of princes, who has the care and management of his horses.

2. A stable or lodge for horses.

EQUESTRIAN, a. [L. equester, equestris, from eques, a horseman, from eqnus, a horse.]

1. Pertaining to horses or horsemanship; performed with horses; as equestrian feats.

2. Being on horseback; as an equestrian lady.

3. Skilled in horsemanship.

4. Representing a person on horseback; as an equestrian statue.

5. Celebrated by horse-races; as equestrian games, sports or amusements.

6. Belonging to knights. Among the Romans, the equestrian order was the order of knights, equites; also their troopers or horsemen in the field. In civil life, the knights stood contra-distinguished from the senators; in the field, from the infantry.

EQUIANGULAR, a. [L. oequus, equal, and angulus, an angle.]

In geometry, consisting of or having equal angles; an epithet given to figures whose angles are all equal, such as a square, an equilateral triangle, a parallelogram, etc.

EQUIBALANCE, n. [L. oequus and bilanx.] Equal weight.

EQUIBALANCE, v.t. To have equal weight with something.

EQUICRURAL, a. [L. oequus, equal and crus, a leg.] Having legs of equal length.

1. Having equal legs, but longer than the base; isosceles; as an equicrural triangle.