Gram. [mod.L., a. Gr. χιασμός crossing, diagonal arrangement, esp. of clauses of a sentence, f. χιάζ-ειν; see prec.] A grammatical figure by which the order of words in one of two parallel clauses is inverted in the other.
1872. A. S. Wilkins, Cicero agst. Cat., 138, note. Frequentia sustentatur, alitur otio. This is a good instance of the … figure called chiasmus … in which the order of words in the first clause is inverted in the second.
