I. noun
also ep·i·log ˈepəˌlȯg also -pēˌ- or -pi- or -läg
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English epiloge, from Middle French epilogue, from Latin epilogus, from Greek epilogos, from epilegein to say in addition, from epi- + legein to speak, gather — more at legend
1. : the final part that serves typically to round out or complete the design of a nondramatic literary work : conclusion
only in prefaces, epilogues and topical interjections … did they achieve ease and force — Boris Ford
— called also afterword ; compare foreword , preface
2.
a.
(1) : a speech often in verse addressed to the audience by one or more of the actors at the end of a play
a good play needs no epilogue yet … good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues — Shakespeare
— compare prologue
(2) : the actor speaking such an epilogue
it is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue but it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the prologue — Shakespeare
b. : the final scene of a play whose main action is set within a framework
the epilogue reassembles the characters of the prologue, their experience enriched by the insight that the main body of the plot has given them — F.H.O'Hara & Margueritte Bro
3. : something felt to resemble an epilogue: as
a. : an incident or series of events that completes, rounds out, or gives point to a previous incident or series of events
the story can be regarded either as an epilogue to the history of Roman Britain or as a prologue to the history of Saxon England — F.M.Stenton
b. : the concluding section of a musical composition : coda
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to supply with an epilogue