Epic

adjective

1. 1

   Pertaining to a dialect characteristic of epic poems, especially Epic Greek.

   Every δῆμος [dêmos] had one or more towns (πόλεις [poleis]), and accordingly for the complete description of the land, usual in the Epic phraseology, both expressions are commonly united […]

   The first syllable is lengthened, as the antistrophic line […] shows, an Epic scansion in accordance with the Epic phrase […]

   It commonly signifies the indigenous religion(s) of South Asia, now increasingly called by the Epic term Sanātana Dharma (eternal religion).

2. 2

   Variant of epicdatedAlternative letter-case form of epic (“relating to epic poems”).

   But the absolute isolation which marks the narrative of the Bundehesh, not a trace of any analogous record being found either in the Zend-Avesta or in the Epic tradition, as collected by Firdouzi, Ḫamza, and the other writers of the Musselman epoch, is of a nature to inspire great doubts in regard to its character as a genuine Iranian legend.

   Egil’s Saga, I think, one cannot at present obtain at all, and the Saga of the Laxdale men I only possess in Latin. These and the rest are truly Epic narratives, the Odysseys of a ruder race than the Achæans.

   We shall speak, therefore, of the Epic tradition as an already established fact, and we shall discuss it only from the point of view of the fifth and fourth centuries in Athens.

noun

1. 1

   Variant of epicAlternative letter-case form of epic (“extended narrative poem”); especially a poem within a particular tradition of epics.

   He calls for a special kind of instrument, bearing a name which smacks of the Norse Epics—a “Nibling.”

   Compare Milton’s Epics with the other great Epics of the world.

   The “Idylls of the King,” more of a complete Epic than any of the great Epics, showed how high is that aim which every commonwealth of men is bound to propose to itself; […]

   The Epic has a continuous history from the Mycenaean era to the making of the Iliad.

Forms

plural

Epics

comparative

more Epic

superlative

most Epic