Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun Rhetoric.
- a figure in which a complex idea is expressed by two words connected by a copulative conjunction: “to look with eyes and envy” instead of “with envious eyes.”
noun
- a rhetorical device by which two nouns joined by a conjunction, usually and, are used instead of a noun and a modifier, as in to run with fear and haste instead of to run with fearful haste
1580s, figure of speech in which two nouns joined by and are used in place of a noun and an adjective; from Medieval Latin alteration of Greek hen dia duoin “one (thing) by means of two.” If this term was used by Greek grammarians it is no longer found in their writings, but it is frequent among Latin writers.