E-pĭt'a-sĭs, n.

E-pĭt'a-sĭs, n. [Gr. ἐπίτασις, a stretching, from ἐπιτείνειν, to stretch upon or over, to increase, from ἐπί and τείνειν, 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. See PROTASIS.
2. (Med.) The period of violence in a fever or disease; paroxysm. Dunglison.