| antonomasia |
| Definition:
(1) Substituting a title or epithet for a proper noun (e.g., calling Bruce Springsteen The Boss). (2) Using a proper noun to express a general idea (e.g., calling a celebrity train-wreck a Britney Spears). |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Greek antonomazein, to name differently (from anti, instead + onomazein, to name). |
| OED: Its first citation is from 1589: "Antonomasia, or the Surnamer, as he that would say: not king Philip of Spaine, but the Westerne king." (Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 192) |