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ἐφάπτ-ω , Ion. ἐπάπτω ,
A.bind on or to, πότμον ἐφάψαις ὀρφανόν having fixed it as his doom, Pi.O.9.60; τί δ᾽ . . ἐγὼ λύουσ᾽ ἂν ἢ 'φάπτουσα προσθείμην πλέον; what should I gain by undoing or by making fast [Creon's command]? v.l. in S.Ant.40; ἔγνω . . τοὔργον κατ᾽ ὀργὴν ὡς ἐφάψειεν τόδε he knew that she had made fast (i.e. perpetrated) the deed, Id.Tr.933:—Pass., 3sg. pf. and plpf. ἐφῆπται, -το, is or was hung over one, fixed as one's fate or doom, c. dat. pers., “Τρώεσσι κήδἐ ἐφῆπται” Il.2.15, cf. 6.241; “Τρώεσσιν ὀλέθρου πείρατ᾽ ἐφῆπται” 7.402, cf. Od.22.41; ἐφῆπτο ib.33; “ἀθανάτοισιν ἔρις καὶ νεῖκος ἐφῆπται” Il.21.513.
II. Med., aor. 1 ἐφηψάμην, 3sg. “ἐφάψατο” Pi.P.8.63; lay hold of, once in Hom., “ἐπὴν χείρεσσιν ἐφάψεαι ἠπείροιο” Od.5.348, cf. Thgn.6, A.Supp.412, etc.; “ἱκέτης ἔφαψαι πατρός” S.Aj.1172, etc.; “ξίφους” E.El.1225 (lyr.); partake of food, Iamb.VP3.17; treat, ἰατρῶν δίκην ἐ. Philostr.VA8.7; ἐπεί γε τοῦδ᾽ ἐφάπτομαι τόπου reach it, E.Hel. 556; “σκοπιᾶς ἐφάψασθαι ποδοῖν” Pi.N.9.47.
b. Geom., touch, Euc. 3 Def.3, etc.; in Arist., of a circle, pass through angular points, Mete. 376b9; of a point, lie on a circle as locus, ib.376a6.
c. as lawterm, c.gen., claim as one's property, S.OC859, Pl.Lg.915c, GDI1883.17 (Delph.), Milet.3 No.140.29: c. dat., GDI1780.8 (Delph.).
d. generally, lay violent hands upon, τοίχου, ἱματίου, Pl.R.574d.
2. lay hold of or reach with the mind, attain to, “τοῦ ἀληθοῦς” Id.Smp. 212a; ἐ. τινὸς μνήμῃ, αἰσθήσει, Id.Phdr.253a, Phd.65d; “ἐ. ἀμφοῖν τῇ ψυχῇ” Id.Tht.190c (c. acc., dub. in Lg.664e); ἐ. λόγων touch upon, meddle with, Pi.O.9.12; “ζητημάτων” Pl.Lg.891c; apply oneself to, “ἐξηγήσεως” Gal.16.558.
3. c. dat. rei, apply oneself to, ἔπεσι, τέχναις, κελεύθοις ζωᾶς, Pi.O.1.86, P.8.63, N.8.36.
4. c. gen. rei, εἴδεος ἐπαμμένος possessing a certain degree of beauty, Hdt.1.199, 8.105; τὰ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ ἁπάσης ταύτης τῆς ἕξεως ἐφαπτόμενα [σώματα] bodies possessing all these qualities in moderation, Pl.Lg.728e; θηριώδους καὶ ἀλόγου μᾶλλον ἢ λογικῆς ἐφάπτεσθαι δοκεῖ φωνῆς, of the sibilant s, D.H.Comp.14.
5. follow, come next, f.l. for ἐφεψάσθω, Theoc.9.2.
III. Pass., to be kindled: hence, blush, Id.14.23.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (27):
    • Aeschylus, Suppliant Maidens, 412
    • Euclid, Elements, 3
    • Euripides, Electra, 1225
    • Euripides, Helen, 556
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.199
    • Herodotus, Histories, 8.105
    • Homer, Iliad, 2.15
    • Homer, Iliad, 6.241
    • Homer, Iliad, 7.402
    • Homer, Odyssey, 5.348
    • Plato, Laws, 728e
    • Plato, Laws, 664e
    • Plato, Laws, 891c
    • Plato, Laws, 915c
    • Plato, Republic, 574d
    • Plato, Phaedo, 65d
    • Plato, Theaetetus, 190c
    • Plato, Phaedrus, 253a
    • Plato, Symposium, 212a
    • Sophocles, Ajax, 1172
    • Sophocles, Antigone, 40
    • Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, 859
    • Sophocles, Trachiniae, 933
    • Homer, Iliad, 21.513
    • Homer, Odyssey, 22.41
    • Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Compositione Verborum, 14
    • Philostratus the Athenian, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 8.7
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