The Only Use of
epithet
in
Othello, the Moor of Venice
- Three great ones of the city, In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, Off-capp'd to him:—and, by the faith of man, I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:— But he, as loving his own pride and purposes, Evades them, with a bumbast circumstance Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war: And, in conclusion, nonsuits My mediators: for, "Certes," says he, "I have already chose my officer."†
Scene 1.1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(epithet as in: racial epithet) an insulting or abusive word or phrase
-
(2)
(epithet as in: earned the epithet, "The Great") a descriptor added to a person's name -- as in Alexander The Great
or:
a phrase used in place of a name or word -- such as: The Big Apple for New York, The Great Emancipator for Abraham Lincoln, or man's best friend for dog