GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found one definition 

  1.       

    Epitome , n.; pl. Epitomes . [L., fr. Gr.  a surface incision, also, and abridgment, fr.  to cut into, cut short; ἐπί upon + τέμνειν to cut: cf. F. épitome. See Tome.]
    1. A work in which the contents of a former work are reduced within a smaller space by curtailment and condensation; a brief summary; an abridgement.
      1913 Webster
      [An] epitome of the contents of a very large book.
      Sydney Smith.

      1913 Webster
    2. A compact or condensed representation of anything; something possessing conspicuously or to a high degree the qualities of a class.
      1913 Webster
      +PJC
      An epitome of English fashionable life.
      Carlyle.

      1913 Webster
      A man so various that he seemed to be
      Not one, but all mankind's epitome.
      Dryden.
      Syn. -- Abridgement; compendium; compend; abstract; synopsis; abbreviature. See Abridgment.
      1913 Webster