Ep"ode (?), n. [L. epodos, Gr. , fr. , adj., singing to, sung or said after, fr. to sing to; upon, to + to sing: cf. F. 'epode. See Ode.] Poet. (a)
The after song; the part of a lyric ode which follows the strophe and antistrophe, -- the ancient ode being divided into strophe, antistrophe, and epode.
(b)
A species of lyric poem, invented by Archilochus, in which a longer verse is followed by a shorter one; as, the Epodes of Horace. It does not include the elegiac distich.
© Webster 1913.