Never was a town better epitheted. --Sir H.
Wotton.
A prince [Henry III.] to whom the epithet
``worthless'' seems best applicable. --Hallam.
2. Term; expression; phrase. ``Stiffed with epithets of
war.'' --Shak.
Usage: The name epithet was formerly extended to nouns which
give a title or describe character (as the ``epithet
of liar''), but is now confined wholly to adjectives.
Some rhetoricians, as Whately, restrict it still
further, considering the term epithet as belonging
only to a limited class of adjectives, viz., those
which add nothing to the sense of their noun, but
simply hold forth some quality necessarily implied
therein; as, the bright sun, the lofty heavens, etc.
But this restriction does not prevail in general
literature. Epithet is sometimes confounded with
application, which is always a noun or its equivalent.