(Gr. i rcrop., from eirtr pvet y, to cut short), an abridgment, abstract or summary giving the salient points of a book, law case, &c., a short and concise account of any particular subject or event. By transference epitome is also used to express the representation of a larger thing, concrete or abstract, reproduced in miniature. Thus St Mark's was called by Ruskin the "epitome of Venice," as it embraces examples of all the periods of architecture from the 10th to the 10th centuries.