I. ˈepəˌta]f, -taa(ə)], -tȧ] noun
( plural epitaphs ]fs sometimes ]vz\)
Etymology: Middle English epitaphe, epitaphie, from Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French epitaphe, from Medieval Latin epitaphium, from Latin, funeral oration, from Greek epitaphion, from neuter of epitaphios being at a tomb or funeral, from epi- + -taphios (from taphos tomb, funeral); akin to Greek thaptein to inter, bury, Armenian damban grave
1. : an inscription on or at a tomb or a grave in memory or commendation of the one buried there
2. : something felt to resemble an epitaph: as
a. : a brief statement (as a phrase or sentence) commemorating or epitomizing a deceased person or something past
a book of epitaphs on the death of the knight
an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer — Shakespeare
all over but the recounts: that was the somewhat sardonic American epitaph on the mid-term congressional election — Christopher Serpell
b. : something that commemorates or serves as a final judgment
the abstract style has not replaced representative art; the show … must serve more as an epitaph than accolade — Lincoln Kirstein
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to commemorate by an epitaph
the bishop was epitaphed in a pair of lovely couplets