Meaning of epitaphologist | Babel Free

Definitions

One who studies epitaphs.

rare

Examples

“It would seem, indeed, that a doubly keen perception of the ludicrous had need⟳ to befriend any one who essays epitaph writing, lest he should be led to perorations like⟳ that which concludes an in memoriam to certain deceased members of / the ball family, / in Nuneaton churchyard: / When death shall strike⟳, great will be your falls, / For you will be like⟳ these poor Balls. / No doubt⟳ a great deal⟳ must depend⟳ upon the propinquity, and also on the sincerity of the epitaphologist.”

“The second was some kind of professional student: his like⟳ were to be found in the patiently seated waiting lines of the career bureaus, always ready to file⟳ for some obscure and pointless occupation—numismatist, dressage instructor, Neurospora geneticist, epitaphologist, worm rancher.”

“The old stones, covered by wild dill and skunk cabbage, are an epitaphologist’s delight.”

“In a collection of epitaphs, the epitaphologist Lady Johnson-Ferguson noted that this was to be found upon a stone near Scotland’s highest railway station at Dalnaspidal.”

“One indication of this are proverbs: “lying like⟳ an epitaph,” if no longer current, certainly was proverbial in the nineteenth century and earlier in the twentieth, in English, French, and Italian as frequent references in the “epitaphologist” literature indicate⟳.”

“Sir—The verse that puzzled your epitaphologist (“The inevitable hour”, December 23rd): / We dance⟳ round in a ring⟳ and suppose⟳ / But the secret sits in the middle and knows / is one of Robert Frost’s stray, whimsical couplets.”

CEFR level