Word of the Day

: July 3, 2009

zeugma

noun ZOOG-muh

What It Means

: the use of a word to modify two or more words in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one

zeugma in Context

"Torpedoes hit their mark! Ship and many hopes sink!" said the headline, employing vivid zeugma.

Did You Know?

"Zeugma, like the pun, is economical: it contracts two sentences into one . . . it links unrelated terms -- mental with moral, abstract with physical, high with low -- and thus generates surprise." (Walter Redfern, Puns) "Zeugma," which has been a part of the English language since the 15th century, comes from Greek, where it literally means "joining." The Greek word has another connection to English as well. In the early 1970s, a chemistry professor named Paul Lauterbur developed a technique for producing images of internal organs. He called it "zeugmatography," because it involved the joining of magnetic fields. Lauterbur was awarded a Nobel Prize, but the name he chose didn’t stick. The technique is known today as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.