metalepsis

met·a·lep·sis

 (mĕt′l-ĕp′sĭs)

n. pl. met·a·lep·ses (-sēz′)

1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase makes indirect reference to another figure of speech. For example, in "His new leaf turned out to be short-lived, and his life spiraled back out of control," "new leaf" alludes to the expression "turn over a new leaf."

2. A narrative device that involves transgressing the boundary between a fictional world and the real world or between two discrete fictional worlds, as when a character from one TV series makes an appearance in a different series.

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[Latin metalēpsis, from Greek, alternation, succession, the use of one word for another, from metalambanein, metalēp-, to take instead, substitute, receive in succession : meta-, meta- + lambanein, lēp-, to take.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

metalepsis

a rhetorical device in which a word that is used figuratively is taken through a succession of its different meanings or two or more tropes are united in the use of a single word. — metaleptic, adj.

See also: Rhetoric and Rhetorical Devices

-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

metalepsis - substituting metonymy of one figurative sense for another metonymy - substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

Translations

métalepse