[L., a. Gr. ἀντονομασία, f. ἀντονομάζειν to name instead, f. ἀντί instead + ὀνομάζειν to name, f. ὄνομα name.] The substitution of an epithet or appellative, or the name of an office or dignity, for a person’s proper name, as the Iron Duke for Wellington, his Grace for an archbishop. Also, conversely, the use of a proper name to express a general idea, as in calling an orator a Cicero, a wise judge a Daniel.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 192. Antonomasia, or the Surnamer, as he that would say: not king Philip of Spaine, but the Westerne king.
a. 1638. Mede, Wks., II. 332. That Capitolium by Antonomasia is put for a Gentile Temple in general.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Antonomasia, a figure in rhetoric…. Thus we say, the philosopher, instead of Aristotle.
1759. Adam Smith, Mor. Sent. (1797), II. 407. This way of speaking, which the grammarians call an antonomasia.
