A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to stand for a whole (or sometimes, a whole is used to stand for a part). The following sentence from Wuthering Heightscontains a synecdoche: "Mr. Heathcliff may have entirely dissimilar reasons for keeping his hand out of the way when he meets a would-be acquaintance, to those which actuate me." Mr. Lockwood, Heathcliff's tenant, says this about Heathcliff in Chapter 1...
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to stand for a whole (or sometimes, a whole is used to stand for a part). The following sentence from Wuthering Heights contains a synecdoche: "Mr. Heathcliff may have entirely dissimilar reasons for keeping his hand out of the way when he meets a would-be acquaintance, to those which actuate me." Mr. Lockwood, Heathcliff's tenant, says this about Heathcliff in Chapter 1 in reference to Mr. Lockwood's own tendency to be shy and retiring. In this example, "hand" is a synecdoche because it is a part that stands for the whole. Heathcliff does not only keep his hand out of the way when he meets people, but instead keeps his whole body out of the way. "Hand" is used to represent his entire self.
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