epitasis

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Ancient Greek ἐπίτασις (stretching), from ἐπιτείνω (to stretch), from ἐπί + τείνω (stretch).

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /ɪˈpɪtəsɪs/

Noun [edit]

epitasis (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, 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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dunglison to this entry?)

Related terms [edit]