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synecdoche - 5 dictionary results

syn⋅ec⋅do⋅che

  [si-nek-duh-kee]
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–noun Rhetoric.
a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in ten sail for ten ships or a Croesus for a rich man.
Origin:
1350–1400; < ML < Gk synekdoch, equiv. to syn- syn- + ekdoch act of receiving from another, equiv. to ek- ec- + -dochē, n. deriv. of déchesthai to receive

Related forms:
syn⋅ec⋅doch⋅ic  [sin-ik-dok-ik] , syn⋅ec⋅doch⋅i⋅cal, adjective
syn⋅ec⋅doch⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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syn·ec·do·che   (sĭ-něk'də-kē)   
n.  A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).

[Middle English synodoches, from Medieval Latin synodoche, alteration of Latin synecdochē, from Greek sunekdokhē, from sunekdekhesthai, to take on a share of : sun-, syn- + ekdekhesthai, to understand (ek-, out of; see eghs in Indo-European roots + dekhesthai, to take; see dek- in Indo-European roots).]
syn'ec·doch'ic (sĭn'ěk-dŏk'ĭk), syn'ec·doch'i·cal (-ĭ-kəl) adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Synecdoche

Syn*ec"do*che\ (s[i^]n*[e^]k"d[-o]*k[-e]), n. [L. synecdoche, Gr. synekdochh`, fr. to receive jointly; sy`n with + ? to receive; ? out + ? to receive.] (Rhet.) A figure or trope by which a part of a thing is put for the whole (as, fifty sail for fifty ships), or the whole for a part (as, the smiling year for spring), the species for the genus (as, cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (as, a creature for a man), the name of the material for the thing made, etc. --Bain.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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synecdoche 
1388, "part for whole or vice versa," from M.L. synodoche, from L.L. synecdoche, from Gk. synekdokhe, lit. "a receiving together or jointly," from synekdekhesthai "supply a thought or word, take with something else," from syn- "with" + ek "out" + dekhesthai "to receive," related to dokein "seem good" (see decent).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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synecdoche

figure of speech in which a part represents the whole, as in the expression "hired hands" for workmen or, less commonly, the whole represents a part, as in the use of the word "society" to mean high society. Closely related to metonymy-the replacement of a word by one closely related to the original-synecdoche is an important poetic device for creating vivid imagery. An example is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's line in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "The western wave was all aflame," in which "wave" substitutes for "sea." See also metonymy.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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