Rhetoric - zeugma

zeugma [ˈzugmə] n.

1.) The use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two nearby words, one having a metaphorical sense and the other a literal sense (Garner's Modern American Usage 3rd Edition).

Etymology: modern Latin, adoption of Greek ζεῦγµα, a yoking, from ζευγνύναι, to yoke, related to ζυγόν, yoke (of land).

"This day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair,
That e'er deserv'd a watchful spirit's care;
Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight;
But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night.
Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law,
Or some frail China jar receive a flaw;
Or stain her honour or her new brocade;
Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball;
Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that Shock must fall."
(The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope, 1717)


(Plöjningen, Carl Larsson, 1905)