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hypallage

[hi-pal-uh-jee, hahy-]
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noun Rhetoric.

the reversal of the expected syntactic relation between two words, as in “her beauty's face” for “her face's beauty.”

Origin of hypallage

1580–90; < Latin < Greek hypallagḗ interchange, equivalent to hyp- hyp- + allagḗ change (all- all- + ag- (stem of ágein to lead; see -agogue) + -ē noun suffix)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hypallage

Historical Examples of hypallage

  • Sterili is transferred by hypallage from litus; siccum serves no purpose beyond providing a balancing epithet.

  • The epithet is, by hypallage, transferred from the person to the dew or cold sweat which ‘dips’ or moistens his body.

    Milton's Comus

    John Milton

British Dictionary definitions for hypallage

hypallage

noun

rhetoric a figure of speech in which the natural relations of two words in a statement are interchanged, as in the fire spread the wind

Word Origin for hypallage

C16: via Late Latin from Greek hupallagē interchange, from hypo- + allassein to exchange
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012