Part 3877

<h1>Epoch</h1> <Xpage=503>

<hw>Ep"och</hw> <tt>(?; 277)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[LL. <ets>epocha</ets>, Gr. <?/ check, stop, an epoch of a star, an historical epoch, fr. <?/ to hold on, check; <?/ upon + <?/ to have, hold; akin to Skr. <ets>sah</ets> to overpower, Goth. <ets>sigis</ets> victory, AS. <ets>sigor</ets>, <ets>sige</ets>, G. <ets>sieg</ets>: cf. F. <ets>\'82poque</ets>. See <er>Scheme</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>A fixed point of time, established in history by the occurrence of some grand or remarkable event; a point of time marked by an event of great subsequent influence; <as>as, the <ex>epoch</ex> of the creation; the birth of Christ was the <ex>epoch</ex> which gave rise to the Christian era.</as></def>

<blockquote>In divers ages, . . . divers <b>epochs</b> of time were used. <i>Usher.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Great <b>epochs</b> and crises in the kingdom of God. <i>Trench.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>The acquittal of the bishops was not the only event which makes the 30th of June, 1688, a great <b>epoch</b> in history. <i>Macaulay.</i></blockquote>

<note>&hand; <i>Epochs</i> mark the beginning of new historical periods, and dates are often numbered from them.</note>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>A period of time, longer or shorter, remarkable for events of great subsequent influence; a memorable period; <as>as, the <ex>epoch</ex> of maritime discovery, or of the Reformation</as>.</def> "So vast an <i>epoch</i> of time."

<i>F. Harrison.</i>

<blockquote>The influence of Chaucer continued to live even during the dreary interval which separates from one another two important <b>epochs</b> of our literary history. <i>A. W. Ward.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Geol.)</fld> <def>A division of time characterized by the prevalence of similar conditions of the earth; commonly a minor division or part of a period.</def>

<blockquote>The long geological <b>epoch</b> which stored up the vast coal measures. <i>J. C. Shairp.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <fld>(Astron.)</fld> <sd>(a)</sd> <def>The date at which a planet or comet has a longitude or position.</def> <sd>(b)</sd> <def>An arbitrary fixed date, for which the elements used in computing the place of a planet, or other heavenly body, at any other date, are given; <as>as, the <ex>epoch</ex> of Mars; lunar elements for the <ex>epoch</ex> March 1st, 1860.</as></def>

<syn>Syn. -- Era; time; date; period; age.</syn> <usage> -- <er>Epoch</er>, <er>Era</er>. We speak of the <i>era</i> of the Reformation, when we think of it as a period, during which a new order of things prevailed; so also, the <i>era</i> of good feeling, etc. Had we been thinking of the time as marked by certain great events, or as a period in which great results were effected, we should have called the times when these events happened <i>epochs</i>, and the whole period an <i>epoch</i>.</usage>

<blockquote>The capture of Constantinople is an <b>epoch</b> in the history of Mahometanism; but the flight of Mahomet is its <b>era</b>. <i>C. J. Smith.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Epocha</h1> <Xpage=503>

<hw>Ep"o*cha</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[L.]</ety> <def>See <er>Epoch</er>.</def>

<i>J. Adams.</i>

<h1>Epochal</h1> <Xpage=503>

<hw>Ep"o*chal</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Belonging to an epoch; of the nature of an epoch.</def> "<i>Epochal</i> points."

<i>Shedd.</i>

<h1>Epode</h1> <Xpage=503>

<hw>Ep"ode</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>epodos</ets>, Gr. <?/, fr. <?/, adj., singing to, sung or said after, fr. <?/ to sing to; <?/ upon, to + <?/ to sing: cf. F. <ets>\'82pode</ets>. See <er>Ode</er>.]</ety> <fld>(Poet.)</fld> <sd>(a)</sd> <def>The after song; the part of a lyric ode which follows the strophe and antistrophe, -- the ancient ode being divided into strophe, antistrophe, and <i>epode</i>.</def> <sd>(b)</sd> <def>A species of lyric poem, invented by Archilochus, in which a longer verse is followed by a shorter one; <as>as, the <ex>Epodes</ex> of Horace</as>. It does not include the elegiac distich.</def>

<h1>Epodic</h1> <Xpage=503>

<hw>E*pod"ic</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[Gr. <?/.]</ety> <def>Pertaining to, or resembling, an epode.</def>

<h1>Eponym, Eponyme</h1> <Xpage=503>

<hw><hw>Ep"o*nym</hw>, <hw>Ep"o*nyme</hw><hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[Cf. F. <ets>\'82ponyme</ets>. See <er>Eponymous</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>The hypothetical individual who is assumed as the person from whom any race, city, etc., took its name; <as>as, Hellen is an <ex>eponym</ex> of the Hellenes</as>.</def>