Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads');
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Metonymy \Me*ton"y*my\ (m[-e]*t[o^]n"[i^]*m[y^]; 277), n. [L.
metonymia, Gr. metwnymi`a; meta`, indicating change +
'o`nyma, for 'o`noma a name: cf. F. m['e]tonymie. See
Name.] (Rhet.)
A trope in which one word is put for another that suggests
it; as, we say, a man keeps a good table instead of good
provisions; we read Virgil, that is, his poems; a man has a
warm heart, that is, warm affections; a city dweller has no
wheels, that is, no automobile.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
metonymy
n 1: substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the
name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads')