metalepsis

Meanings

1. A rhetorical device whereby one word is metonymically substituted for another word which is itself a metonym; more broadly, a metaphor consisting of a series of embedded metonyms or rhetorical substitutions.

Etymology

From Latin metalēpsis, from Ancient Greek μετάληψις (metálēpsis, “succession”), from Ancient Greek μετά (metá, “after”) and λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”).