More joys of Scrabble: zeugma

Zeugma

Now, that is a fine word, except it sounds like a made-up word.

I would have thought, in fact, that it was, but one of the joys of playing Scrabble (our way of playing, anyhow) is that you are given the opportunity to go exploring through the dictionary.

Sure, when I open the dictionary, I am supposed to simply be verifying the existence of a word. Along the way, however, my eye stops on the first and last words of the page and occasionally I get a nice surprise.

Like "zeugma."

Here is an example of a zeugma:

"He caught a fish and a bad cold."

So, you have waited long enough. Here is the definition of zeugma:

"The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one or them or is appropriate to each but in a different way."


Like I said: a very fine word!