hypallage Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun reversal of the syntactic relation of two words (as in `her beauty's face')

WordNet

Hy*pal"la*ge noun
Etymology
L., fr. Gr. , prop., interchange, exchange, fr, to interchange; under + to change.
Definitions
  1. (Gram.) A figure consisting of a transference of attributes from their proper subjects to other. Thus Virgil says, "dare classibus austros," to give the winds to the fleets, instead of dare classibus austris, to give the fleets to the winds.
    The hypallage, of which Virgil is fonder than any other writer, is much the gravest fault in language. Landor.

Webster 1913