catachresis Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')

WordNet

Cat`a*chre"sis noun
Etymology
L. fr. Gr. misuse, fr. to misuse; against + to use.
Definitions
  1. (Rhel.) A figure by which one word is wrongly put for another, or by which a word is wrested from its true signification; as, "To take arms against a sea of troubles. " Shak. "Her voice was but the shadow of a sound." Young.

Webster 1913