figures

The movement of first moment is the moment of first movement.
-- 101 Words I Don't Use

or those who care to know how this entry came about: I was merely trying to figure out what figure of speech might apply to an extraordinary passage that arose spontaneously in a dream. The label that works as well as any is antimetabole -- Figure of emphasis in which the words in one phrase or clause are replicated, exactly or closely, in reverse grammatical order in the next phrase or clause; an inverted order of repeated words in adjacent phrases or clauses (A-B, B-A). Certainly better than antithesis in the list below, don't you think?

Amazing that people have put so much effort into naming Figures of Speech. To my astonishment, the puzzle version of Figures of Speech gets hundreds of visitors year after year, possibly high-schoolers with nightmare assignments.

accumulatio	Repetition in other words: Come here, draw near, get close, sit in back and you will flunk.
anadiplosis	Repetition of an end at the next beginning: "When you lie, lie from the heart." (Rally Round the Flag, Boys by Max Schulman)
anaphora	Repetition of beginnings: Big deal! Big deal! Big frigging deal!
anapodoton	Omission of a clause: That just goes to show you.
anastrophe	Arrangement by reversal of order: Fly the flight fantastic.
antanclasis	Repetition in different senses: He had come and gone, for he was far gone.
anthimeria	Substitution of one part of speech for another: Her husband's drink was drunk and so was her husband.
antiptosis	Substitution of a prepositional phrase for an adjective: pillar of salt; place of hope; blue of the sky
antisthecon	Substitution of letter(s): jist a dang minit; glimorous blond beauty; thar she blows.
antithesis	Repetition by negation: You are a real man when you raise a child not when you make a baby.
aphaersis	Omission of letter(s) at the beginning: 'nough said, "My country 'tis of thee."
apocope	Omission of letter(s) from the end: D'ja eat? No, d'jew? "Wha's up?"
aporia	Talking about not being able to talk about: "I don't want to criticise, but..."
aposiopesis	Breaking off as if unable or unwilling to continue: "Oh, the humanity...!"
asyndeton	Omission of a conjunction: "I am firm, thou art obstinate, he is a pig-headed fool."
asterismos	Addition of a word to emphasize what follows: "Eureka, I've found it!" Nota bene, the Law of Unintended Consequences has prevailed.
auxesis	Arrangement in ascending importance: "There may be dozens, no hundreds, probably thousands of fair damsels in distress!" (Alligator in Pogo by Walt Kelly)
brachylogia	Omission of a conjunction between words or phrases: The battlefield was strewn with death, destruction, unexploded ordnance.
catachresis	Apparent inappropriate substitution of one word for another: frowning posture; giggling eyebrows; laughing shoes; "This is not rocket surgery, here."
diacope	Repetition with only a word or two between: Explosions, gut-wrenching explosions began at dawn.
ellipsis	Omission of a phrase: When anything is considered art, nothing is.
enallage	Substitution of one grammatical form for another, an effective grammatical mistake: Who done it? "I can't get no satisfaction." Technology: If you don't got it, you gotta get it or you get got by it.
enthymene	Omission of a logically implied clause: Rich is sagacious because Rich is rich.
epanados	Repetition in the opposite order: In economics, causes precede effects and effects precede causes.
epanalepsis	Repetition of the beginning at the end: The obvious is not always obvious.
epanorthosis	Addition by correction: I am losing, indeed I have lost.
epenthesis	Addition of letter(s) to the middle: fandamntastic; absobloominlutely; enterboringtainment.
epistrophe	Repetition of ends: The hemlines go higher, the heels go higher, the prices go higher.
epizeuxis	Immediate repetition: Get out, get out at once.
gradatio	Repeated anadiplosis: Demand accelerates, products become scarce, currencies dwindle in value, wages stagnate, quality of life worsens, people despair.
hendiadys	Substitution of a conjunction as a modifier: "bright colors" becomes "bright and colorful"
hypallage	Reversal which seems to change the sense: "flowers of the valley" becomes "the valley of flowers."
hyperbaton	Misplacement of a single element: She slapped his face twice across. The pilot rocked his wings, grinning.
hysteron-proteron	Reversal of temporal order: Take a bow and give your best performance.
isocolon	Repetition of grammatical forms: The bigger they are, the slower they pay.
metaplasmus	Effective misspelling: dog nab it; sects in churches (groan)
metanymy	Substitution of a word for a related word such as cause for effect: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
paradiastole	Addition of a disjunctive conjunction: No data, no experimental protocols nor hypothesis for testing, nor logic will assure the proper disposition of fallacies.
periphrasis	Substitution of more words for less: I gave you a gift free and clear to keep for your very own.
pleonasm	Addition of superfluous words: "Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate." "I was not involved in any way, shape, or form." "Tampering with, disabling, or destroying a smoke detector in the lavatory is prohibited by law."
ploce	Repetition of a word in a general and restricted sense: bigger than big; darker than dark; more savvy than smart.
polyptoton	Repetition of the same word or root in different grammatical function: She does not know what there is to be known.
polysyndeton	Addition of conjunctions: The mainsail jibed and whipped and tore loose from the mast.
praeteritio	Inclusion of something by pretending to omit it: The president does not impugne the political trickery of those who support his opponent.
proparalepsis	Addition of letter(s) to the end: elegancelessness; goblinesque; obviosity; smithereendom, disdainish.
prosthesis	Addition of letter(s) to the beginning: enfilth, kersplashed, gazillion, propushed
repetitio	Irregular repetition of a word or phrase: Streak upon streak, the effluvia streaked and got streaked.
scesis onamaton	Omission of the only verb of a sentence: Best not in this setting. Later, alligator. "A crown to drink!" (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)
syllepsis	Omission entailing a pun: Marriage brought out the best in that woman, chastity.
synaloepha	Omission of a vowel and arrangement of two words into one: That'll sure dampen your drawstrings. "Lower'n a snake's belly in a wagon-wheel rut."
synecdoche	Substitution of the part for a whole: Lust in the eye trumps righteousness in the soul.
tmesis	Arrangement of one word into two: dis courage; em phasis; anti body; poly math
zeugma	Ellipsis of a verb from one of two parallel clauses: "The business man left in high spirits and a Cadillac"; "To err is human; to forgive, divine."