paronomasy

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English

Etymology

Compare French paronomasie.

Noun

paronomasy (countable and uncountable, plural paronomasies)

  1. Archaic form of paronomasia.
    • a 1637, Ben Jonson, Timber: Or, Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter, published posthumously (1640)
      Marry, we must not play or riot too much with them, as in paronomasies.
    • 1972, Language Quarterly, volumes 6-10, page 34:
      Unless, by sheer coincidence, the target language contains a similar word pair, also similar in meaning, the effect of the paronomasy must be lost in the translation.
    • 1974, Michael West, “Scatology and Eschatology: The Heroic Dimensions of Thoreau's Wordplay”, in Publications of the Modern Language Association of, JSTOR:
      Sanctioning etymological speculation, Coleridge urged that his readers be alert to "the equivocal or double meaning of a word," and went so far as to contemplate writing an Apology for Paronomasy, alias Punning

References