EPITHETING
Verb
epitheting
present participle of epithet
Source: Wiktionary
EPITHET
Ep"i*thet, n. Etym: [L. epitheton, Gr. épithète. See Do.]
1. An adjective expressing some quality, attribute, or relation, that
is properly or specially appropriate to a person or thing; as, a just
man; a verdant lawn.
A prince [Henry III.] to whom the epithet "worthless" seems best
applicable. Hallam.
2. Term; expression; phrase. "Stiffed with epithets of war." Shak.
Syn.
– Epithet, Title. 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.
Ep"i*thet, v. t.
Definition: To describe by an epithet. [R.]
Never was a town better epitheted. Sir H. Wotton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition