Hypertext Webster Gateway: "epitome"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Epitome \E*pit"o*me\, n.; pl. {Epitomes}. [L., fr. Gr. ? a
surface incision, also, and abridgment, fr. ? to cut into,
cut short; 'epi` upon + te`mnein to cut: cf. F. ['e]pitome.
See {Tome}.]
1. A work in which the contents of a former work are reduced
within a smaller space by curtailment and condensation; a
brief summary; an abridgement.
[An] epitome of the contents of a very large book.
--Sydney
Smith.
2. A compact or condensed representation of anything.
An epitome of English fashionable life. --Carlyle.
A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but
all mankind's epitome. --Dryden.
Syn: Abridgement; compendium; compend; abstract; synopsis;
abbreviature. See {Abridgment}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
epitome
n 1: a standard or typical example; "he is the prototype of good
breeding"; "he provided America with an image of the
good father" [syn: {prototype}, {paradigm}, {image}]
2: a brief abstract (as of an article or book)
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