Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAR-O-NO-MA'SIA, or PAR-O-NOM'A-SY, n. [from Gr. παρανομεω, to transgress law or rule.]

1. A rhetorical figure, by which words nearly alike in sound, but of different meanings, respect each other in the same, sentence, or are affectedly used; as, “a friend in need is a friend indeed.”
2. A play upon words; a pun. [See Pun.] – Encyc.