Entertainment / Literature / Zeugma: Artfully using a single verb to refer to two different objects grammatically, or artfully using an adjective to refer to two separate nouns, even though the adjective would logically only be appropriate for one of the two. For instance, in Shakespeare's Henry V, Fluellen cries, 'Kill the boys and the luggage.' (The verb kill normally wouldn't be applied to luggage.) If the resulting grammatical construction changes the verb's initial meaning, the zeugma is sometimes called syllepsis. Examples of these syllepses abound--particulary in seventeenth-century literature(Greek 'yoking' or 'bonding')
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Entertainment / Literature / Mezozeugma: An alternative spelling of mesozeugma. See discussion under zeugma. MORE