▪ I. epigraph
(ˈɛpɪgrɑːf, -æ-)
Also 7 epigraphe.
[ad. Gr. ἐπιγραϕή inscription, f. ἐπιγράϕειν to write upon, f. ἐπί upon + γράϕειν to write. In Fr. épigraphe.]
1. An inscription; esp. one placed upon a building, tomb, statue, etc., to indicate its name or destination; a legend on a coin.
| 1624 Fisher in White's Repl. Fisher Pref. v, These words..which should serue as an Epigraph vpon all their houses. 1662 Evelyn Diary (1818) 3 Oct., Dr. Meret..shew'd me..the statue and epigraph under it of that renowned physitian Dr. Harvey. 1697 ― Numism. iii. 99 And this Epigraph, Quid me Persequeris. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. V. 90 The epigraph on the face, instead of the exurgue, is the precise Oriental custom of this day. 1832 Thirlwall in Philol. Mus. I. 495 The epigraph of the thousand citizens who fell..at Chæronea. 1866 Reader 28 July 684 The oldest Samaritan epigraph now existing, which had been found immured in the wall of a mosque. |
† 2. The superscription of a letter, book, etc.; also, the imprint on a title-page. Obs.
| 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter i. 1 Our apostle puts in two words into the epigraph of this epistle, which he left out in the former. 1642 Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. 14 Dec. v. 20 You shall find it..in the Epigraphe of the Canons and Decrees. a 1734 North Exam. iii. vi. §116. 503 As he fronts it in the brazen Epigraph of his new Work. 1812 Monthly Rev. LXVII. 145 Geneva was adopted for the epigraph of the title-page. 1826 Southey Lett. to Butler 217 He was of opinion that a diviner impulse had led him to chuse that epigraph [the title of a book]. |
3. A short quotation or pithy sentence placed at the commencement of a work, a chapter, etc. to indicate the leading idea or sentiment; a motto.
| 1844 Mrs. Browning Sonn. fr. Portuguese xlii. Wks. (1869) III. 229 And write me new my future's epigraph. 1860 S. Lover Leg. & Stor. (ed. 10) i, The beautiful ballad whence the epigraph of this story is quoted. 1874 Lewes Probl. Life & Mind I. 123 That phrase which is placed as an epigraph to this chapter. |
| transf. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. I. iii. v. 171 The Epigraph and Life-motto which John the Steadfast had adopted. |
▪ II. epigraph, v.
(ˈɛpɪgrɑːf, -æ-)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To furnish with an epigraph.
| 1860 Motley Netherl. (1867) I. 526 note, Also a paper epigraphed: ‘Lo que dijo J. B. Piata a Don Juan de Indiaquez,’ 24 June, 1586. |