'Metonymy' definitions:
Definition of 'metonymy'
From: WordNet
noun
Substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')
Definition of 'Metonymy'
From: GCIDE
- Metonymy \Me*ton"y*my\ (m[-e]*t[o^]n"[i^]*m[y^]; 277), n. [L. metonymia, Gr. metwnymi`a; meta`, indicating change + 'o`nyma, for 'o`noma a name: cf. F. m['e]tonymie. See Name.] (Rhet.) A trope in which one word is put for another that suggests it; as, we say, a man keeps a good table instead of good provisions; we read Virgil, that is, his poems; a man has a warm heart, that is, warm affections; a city dweller has no wheels, that is, no automobile. [1913 Webster]