E*pit"a*sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. a stretching, fr. to stretch upon or over; upon + to stretch.]
1.
That part which embraces the main action of a play, poem, and the like, and leads on to the catastrophe; -- opposed to protasis.
2. Med.
The period of violence in a fever or disease; paroxysm.
Dunglison.
© Webster 1913.