factoids > figures of speech

A figure of speech which consists in substituting for the name of a thing the name of an attribute of it or of something closely related.

-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn

Substitution of an attributive or other suggestive word for the name of a person or thing meant, as when the Crown, Homer, wealth, stand for the sovereign, Homer's poems, and rich people.

-- H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1965

lands belonging to the crown [sovereign]
a student of the turf [horse racing]
Tolkien is in the fantasy section [Tolkien's works]
Fred is parked on the driveway [Fred's car]

A rhetorical figure by which contradictory or incongruous terms are conjoined so as to give point to the statement or expression; an expression, in its superficial or literal meaning self-contradictory or absurd, but involving a point. (Now often loosely or erroneously used as if merely = a contradiction in terms, an incongruous conjunction.)

-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn

The combining in one expression of two terms that are ordinarily contradictory, and whose exceptional coincidence is therefore arresting.
...
harmonious discord ... The stock example is Horace's splendide mendax.

-- H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1965

Pointing out that some commonly accepted phrase is in fact an oxymoron (that is, it is a contradiction in terms) can be used as a form of insult :

airplane food
corporate change
homeopathic medicine
military intelligence
structured programming
virtual reality

1. Gram. and Rhet. The use of more words in a sentence than are necessary to express the meaning; redundancy of expression (either as a fault of style, or as a figure purposely used for special force or clearness); with a and pl., an instance of this, or the superfluous word or phrase itself.

-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn

The using of more words than are required to give the sense intended.
...
if and when ... in any shape or form.

-- H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1965

Pleonasm, n. An army of words escorting a corporal of thought.

-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

Pointing out that some commonly accepted phrase is in fact a pleonasm can be used as a form of insult:

corporate change
naive optimism

1. Gram. and Rhet. A figure by which a word, or a particular form or inflexion of a word, is made to refer to two or more other words in the same sentence, while properly applying to or agreeing with only one of them (e.g. a masc. adj. qualifying two ns., masc. and fem.; a sing. verb serving as predicate to two subjects, sing. and pl.), or applying to them in different senses (e.g. literal and metaphorical). Cf. zeugma.

-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn

a single word ... seems to be in the same relation to two others, but in fact is not. ... syllepsis is grammatically correct, but requires the single word to be understood in a different sense with each of its pair.
...
Miss Bolo went home in a flood of tears and a sedan chair. ... He lost his hat and his temper. ... She was seen washing clothes with happiness and Pear's soap.

-- H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1965

she looked at the object with suspicion and a magnifying glass
he lost his money and his mind
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey
Dost sometimes counsel take -- and sometimes Tea.
-- Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto III, 1714
Miss Bolo rose from the table considerably agitated, and went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan-chair
-- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, Ch.35, 1837
And he said as he hastened to put out the cat,
The wine, his cigar and the lamps:
...
She lowered her standards by raising her glass,
Her courage, her eyes and his hopes.
...
When he asked "what in Heaven?" she made no reply,
Up her mind, and a dash for the door.
-- Michael Flanders and Donald Swan, Madeira M'Dear
"You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit."
-- Riker, Angel One, ST:NG
Fresh snow and temperatures have fallen over the Cairngorms
-- BBC News, 31 March 2012

A figure by which a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive or vice versâ; as whole for part or part for whole, genus for species or species for genus, etc.

-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn

The mention of a part when the whole is to be understood ... or vice versa

-- H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1965

They sold fifty head of cattle.
There were some new faces on the committee.
England beat Germany in the 1966 World Cup

A figure by which a single word is made to refer to two or more words in the sentence; esp. when properly applying in sense to only one of them, or applying to them in different senses; but formerly more widely, including, e.g., the use of the same predicate, without repetition, with two or more subjects; also sometimes applied to cases of irregular construction, in which the single word agrees grammatically with only one of the other words to which it refers (more properly called syllepsis).

-- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edn

a single word ... seems to be in the same relation to two others, but in fact is not. ... the single word actually fails to give sense with one of its pair, and from it the appropriate word has to be supplied.
...
kill the boys and [destroy] the luggage! ... with weeping eyes and [bleeding] hearts

-- H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1965

figures of speech

metonymy

oxymoron

pleonasm

syllepsis

synecdoche

zeugma