Definition:
Use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one. (Edward Corbett offers this distinction between zeugma and syllepsis: in zeugma, unlike syllepsis, the single word does not fit grammatically or idiomatically with one member of the pair. Thus, in Corbett's view, the first example below would be syllepsis, the second zeugma.)
Etymology:
From the Greek, "a yoking, a bond"Examples:
- "Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurled,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world."
(Alexander Pope, Essay on Man) - "Kill all the poys [boys] and luggage!"
(Fluellen in William Shakespeare's Henry V) - "You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit."
(Star Trek: The Next Generation) - "He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men."
(Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried) - "But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus an unweighed fear."
(Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried) - "The theme of the Egg Hunt is 'learning is delightful and delicious'--as, by the way, am I."
(Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg in The West Wing) - "You held your breath and the door for me."
(Alanis Morissette, "Head over Feet")
Pronunciation: ZOOG-muh
