Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MET'O-NYM-Y, n. [Gr. μετωνυμια; μετα, over, beyond, and ονομα, name.]

In rhetoric, a trope in which one word is put for another; a change of names which have some relation to each other; as when we say, “a man keeps a good table,” instead of good provisions. “We read Virgil,” that is, his poems or writings. “They have Moses and the prophets,” that is, their books or writings. A man has a clear head, that is, understanding; intellect; a warm heart, that is, affections.