Definition of "periphrasis"

periphrasis

/pəˈɹɪfɹəsɪs/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural periphrases
1. The use of a longer expression instead of a shorter one with a similar meaning, for example "I am going to" instead of "I will".
2. (linguistics) Expressing a grammatical meaning (such as a tense) using a syntactic construction rather than morphological marking.
3. (rhetoric) The substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name (a type of circumlocution).
  Quotations
  Periphrasis a single thought expands,And uses many words for what but few demands.
  1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, page 37
  The "glen," or the "brake of the lion," is Pindar's favourite periphrasis for Nemea.
  1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 4, page 63
4. (rhetoric) The use of a proper name as a shorthand to stand for qualities associated with it.