Part 785

Ep"ic*al (&?;), a. Epic. -- Ep"ic*al*ly, adv.

Poems which have an epical character.

Brande & C.

His [Wordsworth's] longer poems (miscalled epical).

Lowell.

Ep`i*car"di*ac (?), a. (Anat.) Of or relating to the epicardium.

||Ep`i*car"di*um (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. 'epi` upon + kardi`a heart.] (Anat.) That part of the pericardium which forms the outer surface of the heart; the cardiac pericardium.

Ep`i*car"i*dan (?), n. [Pref. epi- + Gr. &?;, &?;, a shrimp.] (Zoöl.) An isopod crustacean, parasitic on shrimps.

Ep"i*carp (?), [Pref. epi- + Gr. &?; fruit.] (Bot.) The external or outermost layer of a fructified or ripened ovary. See Illust. under Endocarp.

Ep"i*cede (?), n. [L. epicedion, Gr. &?; dirge, elegy, fr. &?; funereal; &?; + &?; care, sorrow: cf. F. épicède.] A funeral song or discourse; an elegy. [R.] Donne.

Ep`i*ce"di*al (?), a. Elegiac; funereal.

Ep`i*ce"di*an (?), a. Epicedial. -- n. An epicede.

||Ep`i*ce"di*um (?), n. [L.] An epicede.

Ep"i*cene (?), a. & n. [L. epicoenus, Gr. &?;; fr. 'epi` + &?; common; cf. F. épicène.] 1. Common to both sexes; -- a term applied, in grammar, to such nouns as have but one form of gender, either the masculine or feminine, to indicate animals of both sexes; as boy^s, bos, for the ox and cow; sometimes applied to eunuchs and hermaphrodites.

2. Fig.: Sexless; neither one thing nor the other.

The literary prigs epicene.

Prof. Wilson.

He represented an epicene species, neither churchman nor layman.

J. A. Symonds.

Ep`i*cen"tral (?), a. [Pref. epi- + centrum.] (Anat.) Arising from the centrum of a vertebra. Owen.

Ep`i*ce*ras"tic (?), a. [Gr. &?; tempering the humors; 'epi` + &?; to mix: cf. F. épicérastique.] (Med.) Lenient; assuaging. [Obs.]

||Ep`i*chi*re"ma (?), n.; pl. Epichiremata (#). [L., fr. Gr. &?;, from &?; to attempt to prove.] (Rhet. & Logic) A syllogism in which the proof of the major or minor premise, or both, is introduced with the premises themselves, and the conclusion is derived in the ordinary manner. [Written also epicheirema.]

Ep`i*chor"dal (?), a. [Pref. epi- + chordal.] (Anat.) Upon or above the notochord; -- applied esp. to a vertebral column which develops upon the dorsal side of the notochord, as distinguished from a perichordal column, which develops around it.

Ep`i*cho"ri*al (?), a. [Gr. &?;; &?; over + &?; country.] In or of the country. [R.]

Epichorial superstitions from every district of Europe.

De Quincey.

||Ep`i*clei"di*um (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. 'epi` upon + &?; a little key.] (Anat.) A projection, formed by a separate ossification, at the scapular end of the clavicle of many birds.

Ep`i*cli"nal (?), a. [Pref. epi- + Gr. &?; a couch.] (Bot.) Situated on the receptacle or disk of a flower.