[ad. late L. epigrammatist-a, ad. Gr. ἐπιγραμματιστής, f. ἐπιγραμματίζειν (see next).] A maker of epigrams.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, I. xi. (Arb.), 41–2. Others … in short poemes vttered pretie merry conceits, and these men were called Epigrammatistes.
1598. Marston, Pygmal., 136. Now by the whyps of Epigramatists, Ile not be lasht for my dissembling shifts.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., x. (1634), 89. In Martiall you shall see a divine wit, with a flowing purity of the Latine tongue, a true Epigrammatist.
1756–82. J. Warton, Ess. Pope (1782), II. xii. 355. His [Donne’s] grandfather on the mother’s side was Heywood the epigrammatist.
1814. D’Israeli, Quarrels Auth. (1867), 385. This familiar comparison of a MS. with a squeezed orange provoked the epigrammatists.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, ii. 17. I shouldn’t advise a young man to marry an epigrammatist.
