EP'ITAPH, noun [Gr. a sepulcher.] 1. An inscription on a monument, in honor or memory of the dead. The epitaphs of the present day are crammed with fulsome compliments never merited. Can you look forward to the honor of a decorated coffin, a splendid funeral, a towering monument--it may be a lying epitaph 2. An eulogy, in prose or verse, composed without any intent to be engraven on a monument, as that on Alexander: 'Sufficit huic tumulus, cui non sufficeret orbis.'
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI