Definition of "catachresis"

catachresis

/ˌkæt.əˈkɹiː.sɪs/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural catachreses
1. A misuse of a word; an application of a term to something which it does not properly denote.
  1. (often, especially) Such a misuse involving some similarity of sound between the misused word and the appropriate word.
2. (rhetoric) A misapplication or overextension of figurative or analogical description; a wrongly applied metaphor or trope.
  Quotations
  A Catachresis terms abused receives,And epithets and attributes improper gives.]
  Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, page 14