Syn*ec"do*che (?), n. [L. synecdoche, Gr. , fr. to receive jointly; with + to receive; out + to receive.] Rhet.
A figure or trope by which a part of a thing is put for the whole (as, fifty sail for fifty ships), or the whole for a part (as, the smiling year for spring), the species for the genus (as, cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (as, a creature for a man), the name of the material for the thing made, etc.
Bain.
© Webster 1913.