A zeugma is a literary term for using a word to modify two other words, in two different ways. An example of a zeugma would be, "When she got to my house she was full of anger and cake."
When you use one word to link between two thoughts, you're using a zeugma. Some literary experts distinguish a zeugma from a syllepsis by insisting that in a zeugma, only one of the two thoughts should make literal or grammatical sense. For example, you could use the zeugma, "I lost my keys and my temper." In Greek, zeugma means "a yoking," as in yoking one word to two ideas.
