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7
votes
3answers
157 views

“He rolled his toilet things into his housewife”

From C.S. Forester's Hornblower and the Hotspur: [The naval captain] rolled his toilet things into his housewife and tied the tapes. ODO does provide a second definition for housewife which ...
7
votes
4answers
231 views

What is the grammatical term for the following idiom?

When there is a group or list of specific items, its components are curiously pluralized when reciting them in one sentence. For instance,when a person discusses the qualities of blue-chip stocks, he ...
42
votes
4answers
822 views

Is there a term for referring to an organization by its city rather than by its name?

This happens specifically often in the technology press: There's no point trying to ascribe motives to what Redmond [instead of "Microsoft"] does. We'll see shortly if Cupertino [instead of ...
6
votes
2answers
3k views

What is the difference between metonymy and synecdoche?

What is the difference between metonymy and synecdoche?