zeugma

American  

[zoog-muh] / ˈzug mə /

noun

Grammar, Rhetoric.

1. the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to wage war and peace or On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.

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zeugma British  

/ zjuːɡˈmætɪk, ˈzjuːɡmə /

noun

1. a figure of speech in which a word is used to modify or govern two or more words although appropriate to only one of them or making a different sense with each, as in the sentence Mr. Pickwick took his hat and his leave (Charles Dickens)

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Other Word Forms

• zeugmatic adjective
• zeugmatically adverb

Etymology

Origin of zeugma

First recorded in 1515–25; from Greek zeûgma “a yoking, bond,” equivalent to zeug(nýnai) “to yoke ¹ ” + -ma noun suffix of result

Explanation

A zeugma is a literary term for using one word to modify two other words, in two different ways. An example of a zeugma is, “She broke his car and his heart.” When you use one word to link two thoughts, you're using a zeugma. Some literary experts distinguish a zeugma from a syllepsis by insisting that in a zeugma, only one of the two thoughts should make literal or grammatical sense. For example, you could use the zeugma, "I lost my keys and my temper." In Greek, zeugma means "a yoking," as in yoking one word to two ideas.

Example Sentences

A few may think of rhetoric as a deadly classical discipline devoted to the exhaustive parsing and labeling of figures of speech: zeugma, anyone?

From Salon • May 28, 2012

One example at random: "You may not make the headlines, but you can always make the difference" – a zeugma there.

From The Guardian • May 4, 2010

This is a zeugma: the intentional juxtaposition of different senses of a single word.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

There is a zeugma in set. azurn sheen.

From Milton's Comus by Bell, William

He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., that it is a zeugma.

From Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War by Watson, John Selby