| figure of speech |
| Definition - Any word or phrase that deviates from the normal literal use of words in order to add beauty, variety, or emphasis to a statement. Notes: 1. The common techniques for doing this have been given names, such as hyperbole, hysteron proteron, merism, and metaphor. |
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Example - He has tons of money (i.e. he has lots of money, but it probably doesn't weigh a ton). |
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Etymology - The term was coined as a translation of the Latin figura orationis, which itself is a translation of the Greek term skhema tes lexeos. |
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Oxford English Dictionary - Its first citation is from 1669: "Words are sometimes encreast or diminisht by a Letter or Syllable … which are call'd Figures of Speech." (Milton, Accedence Wks., 1851 VI. 467) ) |
