<post-classical Latinzeugma (2nd or 3rd cent.), zeuma (from 13th cent. in British sources) <ancient Greekζεῦγμα something used for joining, bond, in Hellenistic Greek also use of the same predicate…
<post-classical Latinzeugma (2nd or 3rd cent.), zeuma (from 13th cent. in British sources) <ancient Greekζεῦγμα something used for joining, bond, in Hellenistic Greek also use of the same predicate with two or more subjects <ζευγνύναι to yoke (related to ζυγόνyoken.) + ‑μα (see ‑omacomb. form).
Notes
Compare Frenchzeugma (1754), zeugme (1765; 1380 in Middle French as zeume)), Spanishzeuma (1490), Portuguesezeugma (1540 as zeuma), Italianzeugma (a1565; a1406 as zeuma).
For earlier use of the Latin word in an English context compare:
OE
Þæt oðer hiw ys geciged zeuma, þæt ys gefeig [= a joining] on Englisc. Þis gefeg ys swyðe gelome on halgum gewritum.
Byrhtferð, Enchiridion (Ashmole MS.) (1995) iii. iii. 164
Meaning & use
Grammar and Rhetoric.
c1450–
A rhetorical figure in which a word or phrase is made to apply, in different senses, to two (or more) others, or (formerly) when it agrees grammatically with only one. Cf. syllepsisn. 1.
A well-known example of zeugma is found in the following:
1712
Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey, Dost sometimes Counsel take—and sometimes Tea.
A. Pope, Rape of Lockei, in Miscellaneous Poems 359
c1450
Zeuma is a joynyng togedyr of twey nominatyf cases in reward of a verbe so that the verbe acorde wyth that on nominatyf case and nouȝt wyth that othyr, as Ego lego et tu.
in D. Thomson, Middle English Grammatical Texts (1984) 181
1555
Zeugma is varyed also by the place, where that common woorde is putte.
R. Sherry, Treatise of Figures of Grammar & Rhetorike f. xvij.
1589
But if it be to mo clauses then one, that some such word be supplied to perfit the congruitie or sence of them all, it is by the figure (Zeugma) we call him the (single supplie)..: as to say. Fellowes and friends and kinne forsooke me quite.
G. Puttenham, Arte of English Poesieiii. xii. 136
1592
Zeugma, when one or more clauses are concluded vnder one verbe, as to say: His loosenes ouercame all shame, his boldnes feare, his madnes reason.
A. Day, 2nd Part English Secretorie sig. N1v, in English Secretorie (revised edition)
1656
By this figure Zeugma, a verb is sometimes reduced to two Nominative cases, and agrees with both, and then it is called a Zeugma of locution, not of construction.
J. Smith, Mysterie of Rhetorique Unvail'd 181
1683
Sometimes a Syllepsis meets in Conjunction with a Zeugma.
J. Twells, Grammatics Reformata 42
1738
Puzzling Grammarians call Zeugma..if the Common Word stands first, Protozeugma, as, Sunt nobis mitia poma.
J. Holmes, Art Rhetoricvol. I. 62
1746
The Zeugma, which is a kind of Ellipsis, wherein a word is understood that has been already mentioned in the sentence, may be seen in the following Examples.
T. Nugent, translation of C. Lancelot et al. New Method of learning Greek Tonguevol. II.vii. vii. 201
1848
I assume the influence..to have been such as will at once explain the repetition of a zeugma.
G. Rorison, Contributions towards Harmony Holy Gospels 226
1888
Zeugmata and other modes of pregnant expression are practically unknown to his style.
American Journal of Philologyvol. 9 340
1904
One must be very circumspect in making zeugmas of that kind.
Black & Red May 58
1978
You ‘committed’, as you put it, a zeugma—or more properly, a syllepsis.
W. F. Buckley, Stained Glass iii. 30
2015
There's the use of zeugma in the second, where the verb ‘stink’ governs both the ‘bolt oil and burned powder’ and ‘the things it says’.
Sunday Times (Nexis) 8 February (Features section) 7
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
gguy
jjay
yyore
chchore
khloch
shshore
ththaw
dhthee
zhbeige
Vowels
atrap
ahpalm
airsquare
arstart
arrcarry (British only)
awthought
ayface
a(ng)gratin
edress
eefleece
eerdeer
errmerry
ikit
ighpride
irrmirror
olot (British only)
ohgoat
oogoose
oorcure
orforce
orrsorry (British only)
owmouth
oyvoice
o(ng)salon
ustrut
uhletter
urnurse
urrhurry
uufoot
Forms
Inflections
Plural: zeugmata, zeugmas
Variant forms
late Middle English
zeuma
1500s–
zeugma
Frequency
zeugma typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.
zeugma is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of zeugma, n., 1810–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.