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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Syllepsis.
  2. n. 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.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A figure in grammar in which two nouns are joined to a verb suitable to only one of them, but suggesting another verb suitable to the other noun; or in which an adjective is similarly used with two nouns.
  2. n. [capitalized] [NL.] In entomology, a genus of hemipterous insects.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one.
  2. n. Syllepsis.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A figure by which an adjective or verb, which agrees with a nearer word, is, by way of supplement, referred also to another more remote.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. use of a word to govern two or more words though appropriate to only one

Etymologies

  1. Latin, from Greek, a joining, bond; see yeug- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “This is usually called a zeugma; it's a purely structural way of using prepositions in an odd way, for effect e.g., humor.”

    Archive 2005-09-01

  • “Lauterbur submitted a paper to the journal Nature outlining his discovery – which he gave the rather grand name of zeumatography, from the Greek word zeugma, or yoke, to signify the fact that the technique links chemical and spatial information.”

    The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2003 - Perspectives

  • “The people speak of their land as dying by a kind of zeugma, for the land deteriorates if it be not worked, and here their plea is for seed.”

    Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1

  • “He calls her by a kind of zeugma "your daughter," though she is but Jacob's daughter; however, all have the disposal of her in hand.”

    Exposition of Genesis: Volume 1

  • “Apparently this type of "zeugma" (yes, there are many types) is called "syllepsis.”

    Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle

  • “I should note that the word "zeugma" appears in Westlaw's Allcases database 20 times -- all of them either in the name Zeugma Corp. or the title of Libert H. Boeynaems,”

    The Volokh Conspiracy

  • “I'd like to give a familiar quote -- preferably from a famous song, play, novel, or movie -- that contains a zeugma, which is to say "The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it 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.”

    British Blogs

  • “2D: Have a break at 4: 00, say (take tea) - when I first learned what "zeugma" was, this was the example:”

    Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle

  • “About a year ago, dhawhee wrote a post on her favorite trope in her case, zeugma.”

    Ferule & Fescue

  • “Grant and Peter both suggest the “zeugma,” which is really too complicated to explain, while David envisages “a groovy Latin number about the Spanish question mark.””

    Michael Hogan: Vampire Weekend’s “Oxford Comma,” Explained: Michael Hogan

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Lists

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  • bojan The farmers in the valley grew potatoes, peanuts, and bored.

    He lost his coat and his temper.

    The kleptomaniac illusionist stole the show and my wallet. Jul 17, 2011

  • fbharjo zeugma is an odd yokemate - a nonparallel juxtaposition Oct 13, 2008

  • dontcry I don't know about that -- but time flies prefer fun! Oct 12, 2008

  • frindley I always thought that fruit flies prefer an orange. Oct 12, 2008

  • mollusque Yes, we know you have bananas. Oct 12, 2008

  • bilby Do you think I have bananas? Oct 12, 2008

  • dontcry No!? Oct 12, 2008

  • gangerh Lovely play, d! And my greengrocer tells me he has a fruit flies problem. Especially with bananas!!!! Oct 12, 2008

  • dontcry I have a time flies problem too, g. Maybe we're having too much fun... Oct 12, 2008

  • gangerh "Yes." Oct 11, 2008

  • Prolagus Did you tell your grocer "It looks like you don't have any bananas"? What did he say? Oct 11, 2008

  • gangerh And, perversely, many vegetable flies like rooted but fruit flies off the shelves. Oct 11, 2008

  • gangerh Can't even find anywhere to buy bananas, 'gus. Oct 11, 2008

  • Prolagus You should buy an arrow trap. Oct 11, 2008

  • gangerh Don't have any answers for you, myth. I do know that my home is infested with time flies and I don't like it. Oct 11, 2008

  • myth What is the governing word in: "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana?"

    Can a governing word switch parts of speech?
    flies is a verb and a noun
    like is a preposition and a verb

    Does Zeugma refer to a governing word (like the definition here) or a governing verb? Is Zuegma (governing verb) a type of syllepsis (governing word) or the other way around? Neither of my books on Rhetoric gives a definitive answer. Oct 11, 2008

  • johnmperry cf litotes

    Jul 20, 2008

  • ofravens "Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
    Dost sometimes counsel take---and sometimes Tea."
    --Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock," Canto III Mar 9, 2008

  • rweintr It is important to keep zeugmatic tires properly inflated. Mar 7, 2008

  • arby Zounds! Jul 18, 2007

  • reesetee Zoiks! ;-) Jul 18, 2007

  • slumry I was thinking of it as an unpleasant oath playing on the letter zee. ;-) For instance, Great zooming zits, that's ugly! Jul 18, 2007

  • jennarenn Zooming zits? Lucky you, mine usually just plod along. Jul 18, 2007

  • slumry I agree, it is an unlikely sounding word. Zooming zits! Jul 17, 2007

  • arby Love the concept, don't really care for the word itself tho. It sounds like some kind of disease. Or maybe a car. "Try the new Zeugma - 50 miles to the gallon!" Jul 17, 2007

  • slumry Ha! I used the Groucho Marx quotation this week, and it was the first thing that came to mind when I read the definition of zeugma! Jun 21, 2007

  • rek compare with syllepsis Jun 21, 2007

  • reesetee Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
    --Groucho Marx Feb 16, 2007

‘zeugma’ has been looked up 4167 times, loved by 24 people, added to 101 lists, commented on 28 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.