epitasis

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Ancient Greek ἐπίτασις (epítasis, “stretching”), from ἐπιτείνω (epiteínō, “to stretch”), from ἐπί (epí) + τείνω (teínō, “stretch”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɪˈpɪtəsɪs/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Noun[edit]

epitasis (countable and uncountable, plural epitases)

  1. (ancient drama) The second part of a play, in which the action begins.
    • 1760, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin, published 2003, page 88:
      How my uncle Toby and Corporal Trim managed this matter,—with the history of their campaigns, which were no way barren of events,—may make no uninteresting under-plot in the epitasis and working up of this drama.
    • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
      It doubles itself in the middle of his life, reflects itself in another, repeats itself, protasis, epitasis, catastasis, catastrophe.
  2. (rhetoric) The addition of a concluding sentence that merely emphasizes what has already been stated.
  3. (obsolete) The period of violence in a fever or disease; paroxysm.[1]

Related terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^
    1839, Robley Dunglison, “EPITASIS”, in Medical Lexicon. A New Dictionary of Medical Science, […], 2nd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, successors to Carey and Co., →OCLC:

Anagrams[edit]

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