Syllepsis

From Greek "syllepsis" (a taking together), from "syn" (together) and "lambanein" (to take). Rhetoricians have long argued over its boundary with "zeugma," and the two terms are often used interchangeably.

  1. noun · /sih-LEP-sis/

    A figure in which one word governs two others while its sense shifts between them.

    The sly construction behind lines like "she took her coat and her leave" — one verb, two very different objects.

    "He lost his keys and his temper" is a neat syllepsis.

    Syllepsis is often paired with zeugma; where the terms are distinguished, zeugma is the broad yoking of words by one term, and syllepsis the specific case where that term’s meaning bends between them.