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zeugma

 - 3 dictionary results

zeug⋅ma

  [zoog-muh]
Use zeugma in a Sentence
–noun Grammar, Rhetoric.
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.
Compare syllepsis.

Origin:
1515–25; < Gk zeûgma a yoking, equiv. to zeug(nýnai) to yoke 1 + -ma n. suffix of result

Related forms:
zeug⋅mat⋅ic  [zoog-mat-ik] , adjective
zeug⋅mat⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To zeugma
zeug·ma   (zōōg'mə)   
n.  

  1. Syllepsis.

  2. A construction in which one word or phrase is understood to be related to two or more other words or phrases, while being grammatically consistent with only one of them, as with subject-verb agreement in She was upstairs, and her children downstairs.


[Latin, from Greek, a joining, bond; see yeug- in Indo-European roots.]
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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Word Origin & History

zeugma 
1586, "a single word (usually a verb or adj.) made to refer to two or more words in a sentence," from Gk., lit. "a yoking," from zeugnynai "to yoke" (see jugular).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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