What is a syllepsis?

Definition
	A syllepsis is the use of a single word in such a way that it is syntactically related to two or more words elsewhere in the sentence, but has a different meaning in relation to each of the other words.

Example (English)

There is a certain type of woman who’d rather press grapes than clothes.

Source:

Advertisement cited by Corbett 1971 483

Concept module: syllepsis
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004