Also 7 kata-, cate-. [a. L. catachrēsis, a. Gr. κατάχρησις misuse (of a word), f. καταχρῆσθαι to misuse, f. κατά with sense of perversion + χρῆσθαι to use.]
Improper use of words; application of a term to a thing that it does not properly denote; abuse or perversion of a trope or metaphor.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 190, marg. Catachresis or the Figure of abuse.
1605. J. Dove, Confut. Atheism, 81. The three famous Lakes … which are commonly by the figure catachresis called seas.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, III. 185. One may call and justify this [Yorkshire] to be the best shire of England, and that not by the help of the generall Katachresis of Good for Great (a good blow, good piece, &c.).
1810. Coleridge, Friend (ed. 3), III. 221. The proverb is current by a misuse, or a catachresis at least, of both the words, fortune and fools.
