Word.ws English Dictionary

epistled

epistled is the simple past and past participle of epistle.

Meaning of epistle

Verb

epistle (third-person singular simple present epistles, present participle epistling, simple past and past participle epistled)

  1. (humorous, literary, transitive) To write (something) in, or in the form of, a letter.
    • His braynes, his time, all hys maintenance and exhibition upon it he hath conſumed, and never intermitted, till ſuch time as he beganne to epiſtle it againſt mee, ſince which I have kept him a work indifferently.1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with...
  2. (archaic, humorous, literary, transitive) To write a letter to (someone).
  3. (rare, transitive) To write (something) as an introduction or preface to a literary work; also, to provide (a literary work) with an introduction or preface.
    • And though antient Tragedy uſe no Prologue, yet uſing ſometimes, in caſe of ſelf defence, or explanation, that vvhich Martial calls an Epiſtle; in behalf of this Tragedy coming forth after the antient manner, much different from vvhat among us paſſes for beſt, thus much before-hand may be Epiſtl'd...1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]. Of that Sort of Dramatic Poem which is Call’d Tragedy.”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn]...
  4. (humorous, intransitive, literary) To write a letter.
    • Devinitie (the heaven of all artes) for a while drew his thoughts unto it; but ſhortly after the world, the fleſh, and the divell with-drewe him from that, and needes he would be of a more gentleman-like luſtie cut: whereupon hee fell to morrall epiſtling and poetrie.1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with...
  5. (humorous, intransitive, literary) To communicate with someone through a letter.

See all 12 meanings of epistle

Questions about epistled

What is epistled the simple past and past participle of?
Epistled is the simple past and past participle of epistle.

Words near epistled in the dictionary

  1. epistle lessons
  2. Epistle of James
  3. Epistle of Jeremiah
  4. epistle side
  5. epistle sides
  6. epistled
  7. epistler
  8. epistlers
  9. epistles
  10. epistling
  11. epistocracies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: epistled (page history and authors); epistle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “epistled.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/epistled. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.