# Post an obscure word, its definition, and use it in a sentence.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-an-obscure-word-its-definition-and-use-it-in-a-sentence/455916>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 10, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-an-obscure-word-its-definition-and-use-it-in-a-sentence/455916 "2008-07-10T00:41:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![dactylic\_hexameter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@dactylic\_hexameter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dactylic_hexameter)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-an-obscure-word-its-definition-and-use-it-in-a-sentence/455916/81 "2008-07-14T23:19:11Z")

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Zeugma: A figure of speech in which a single verb governs two halves of a sentence with different meanings.  
Examples:  
She bore arms and children  
He took her hand and an aspirin.  
The judge executed the law and his wife.  
My teeth and ambitions are bared.

Technically, wikipedia says that this is specifically syllepsis, a subset of zeugma, but I’m sticking with my old latin textbook.

For the curious, zeugma is the Attic greek word “yoke.”

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