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merism

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Examples (polar extremes)

heaven and earth (the universe)
high and low (everywhere)

Etymology

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From Ancient Greek μερισμός (merismós). Compare μέρος (méros, part).

Examples (list of parts)

lock, stock, and barrel (the whole gun)
signed, sealed, and delivered (the whole process of communicating)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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merism (countable and uncountable, plural merisms)

  1. (literature, rhetoric) A reference to something by its polar extremes, as in "we searched high and low".
  2. (literature, rhetoric) A reference to something by a list of its parts.

Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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