the use of a word or expression to perform two syntactic functions, esp. to modify two or more words of which at least one does not agree in number, case, or gender, as the use of are in Neither he nor we are willing.
syl·lep·sis (sĭ-lěp'sĭs) n.
pl.syl·lep·ses (-sēz) A construction in which a word governs two or more other words but agrees in number, gender, or case with only one, or has a different meaning when applied to each of the words, as in He lost his coat and his temper.
[Late Latin syllēpsis, from Greek sullēpsis : sun-, syn- + lēpsis, a taking (from lambanein, to take).] syl·lep'tic (-lěp'tĭk) adj.