ZEUGMA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Use of a verb with two or more complements, playing on the verb's polysemy, for humorous effect

Example:

'Mr. Pickwick took his hat and his leave' is an example of zeugma

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("zeugma" is a kind of...):

figure; figure of speech; image; trope (language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "zeugma"):

syllepsis (use of a word to govern two or more words though agreeing in number or case etc. with only one)

Credits