zeugma
[zoog-muh]
- 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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Compare syllepsis.
Origin of zeugma
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for zeugma
Historical Examples
Zeugma is either upon or near the site of Bir, which is in about 37° N. Lat.
Plutarch's Lives Volume III.Plutarch
The young prince accordingly set out, and reached the city of Zeugma in safety.
Lucullus appears to have crossed the Euphrates at a more northern point than Zeugma, where the river was crossed by Crassus.
Plutarch's Lives, Volume IIAubrey Stewart & George Long
There is a zeugma in speaks as applied to ‘thunder’ and ‘chains,’ unless it be taken as in both cases equivalent to denounces.
Milton's ComusJohn Milton
zeugma
- 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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Word Origin
C16: via Latin from Greek: a yoking, from zeugnunai to yoke
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for zeugma
n.
1580s, "a single word (usually a verb or adjective) made to refer to two or more words in a sentence," from Greek, literally "a yoking," from zeugnynai "to yoke" (see jugular).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper