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In rhetoric, metonymy (IPA: /mɨˈtɒnɨmi/) is the use of a word for a concept or object which is associated with the concept/object originally denoted by the word.

Metonymy may be instructively contrasted with metaphor. Both figures involve the substitution of one term for another. In metaphor, this substitution is based on similarity, while in metonymy, the substitution is based on contiguity.

Metaphor example: That man is a pig (using pig instead of unhygenic person. An unhygienic person is like a pig, but there is no contiguity between the two).

Metonymy example: The White House supports the bill (using White House instead of President. The President is not like the White House, but there is contiguity between them).

In cognitive linguistics, metonymy refers to the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity and is one of the basic characteristics of cognition. It is common for people to take one well-understood or easy-to-perceive aspect of something and use that aspect to stand either for the thing as a whole or for some other aspect or part of it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy