List of metonyms

The following is a list of common metonyms. A metonym is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "London", as the capital of the United Kingdom, could be used as a metonym for its government. (See below for more examples.)

General

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
aggregation	coming together	result of coming together; those who come together
arm	human limb	throwing ability
assembly	coming together	result of coming together; those who come together
bar	the bar in a courtroom that separates the judges and lawyers from the laypeople	all the lawyers licensed to practice law in a certain court or jurisdiction.
bench	the location in a courtroom where a judge sits when presiding over court	all the judges of a court or jurisdiction; members of a judiciary; the presiding officer (judge) in a court.
book	a set of pages (paper) bound together at one side	a work of literature
calypso	Calypso, music genre originating from Trinidad and Tobago	used errorenously by Westerners as a reference to all Caribbean music genres regardless of nationality
china	China, the country	Chinese porcelain or other types of ceramic
city hall	a city's chief administrative building	city government or government in general (Common usage in axiom, "You can't fight city hall.")
congregation	coming together	result of coming together; those who come together. Usually used in reference to religious affiliations based on denomination.
court	seeking favor	assembly of those seeking favor; the president of the court ("judge")
The Crown	A monarch's headwear	The British monarchy. Also, in Commonwealth realms, the Crown is the legal embodiment of governance, and in court the prosecuting party in criminal proceedings
damages	destructive effects	money paid in compensation
dish	an item of crockery	a course (in dining)
DNA	Deoxyribonucleic acid	an unalterable, core belief or ideal (e.g., "Building a quality product is in his DNA.")
jigsaw	cutting tool	jigsaw puzzle
Manchester	the city in England	textiles manufactured there
microwave	electromagnetic wave of wavelength 1 mm to 1 m	microwave oven
militia	military or defense activity	those engaged in or subject to being required to engage in defense activity
mortal	subject to death	human
movement	motion, change in position	result of motion or change; those who move or change
pink slip	a piece of paper, pink in color	a layoff, historically made official in the United States by giving the employee a pink discharge notice
police	make orderly (lawful)	law enforcers
press	printing press	the news media
ring	a wedding ring	the relationship itself (as in "If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it")
service	doing for others	those who serve (especially military)
sweat	perspiration	hard work
toilet	an appliance used for the elimination of waste	the room in which the toilet is contained
tongue	oral muscle	a language or dialect
vagina	the female internal reproductive tract	the vulva, or external genitalia
word	a unit of language	a promise (to give/keep/break one's word); a conversation (to have a word with)

American

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
Washington	capital of the United States	the United States federal government
The White House	Official residence of the President of the United States	the President and staff
Capitol Hill	The neighborhood in which the United States Capitol is located	the United States Congress
The Pentagon	building in Arlington, Virginia that houses…	the United States Department of Defense
Ellis Island	an island in New York Harbor where the main immigrant inspection station was located	American immigration
Foggy Bottom	neighborhood in Washington, D.C. that houses…	the United States Department of State
Grosvenor Square	in the Mayfair district of London, England, is Grosvenor Square on which is located	the Embassy of the United States
Langley	town in the commonwealth of Virginia	the Central Intelligence Agency, whose headquarters are in this town
Quantico	town in Virginia that houses the main training center for…	the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Annapolis	the capital of the state of Maryland	the United States Naval Academy, which is located there
West Point	a United States Army base in the state of New York	the United States Military Academy, located on this base
K Street	A street in central Washington, D.C.	The U.S. lobbying industry, many of whose firms have offices on this street
PDX	IATA airport code for Portland International Airport	The City of Portland, Oregon
Inside the Beltway	refers to the Capital Beltway, a highway which surrounds Washington, D.C. and its inner suburbs	the U.S. political system
Broadway	street in New York City	Broadway theatre in particular, and American theatre in general
Wall Street	street in New York City	the United States financial markets, for which Wall Street is the traditional center of securities trading
Main Street	a common street name in	the United States, as a rhetorical representation of small businesses
Madison Avenue	a street in New York City	the United States advertising industry
Seventh Avenue	a street in New York City	the United States fashion industry
Cooperstown	a village in upstate New York	the (U.S.) Baseball Hall of Fame, located in this community
Hollywood	District of Los Angeles, historically the primary center of…	the American film industry
The Coast	the West Coast of the United States	the Los Angeles-based entertainment industry
Silicon Valley	geographic region of the San Francisco Bay Area	all the high-tech companies located in the area
Cupertino	a city in the state of California	Apple Inc., which is headquartered there
Redmond	a city in the state of Washington	Microsoft, which is headquartered there
Sand Hill Road	a road in Menlo Park, California	Used to refer to some of the biggest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, many of whose offices are located along this road.
Detroit	largest city in the state of Michigan	the United States automobile industry, which is centered in the Detroit area
Houston	largest city in the state of Texas	NASA Mission Control, from the phrase "Houston, we've had a problem"
Cape Canaveral	a geographic feature in the state of Florida near the…	NASA Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Beacon Hill	a neighborhood within Boston	broadly, the Massachusetts state government (I work on Beacon Hill); specifically (esp. in media), the legislature of the Commonwealth.
Cambridge	a city in the state of Massachusetts	the academic community centered around Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nashville	the capital of the state of Tennessee	the country music industry, which has strong ties to Nashville
Smith Hill	a neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island	the Rhode Island state government and the Rhode Island General Assembly
most U.S. state capital cities	the state capital	the state government (known exceptions include Annapolis, Boston and Nashville, as noted elsewhere)
the people	human beings, or a specific group thereof	some state governments in criminal prosecution matters, e.g., "People (of the State of Michigan) versus X", as opposed to "State (of Ohio) versus Y"
Pearl Harbor	a lagoon harbor on the island of O?ahu, Hawai?i, west of Honolulu	The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941
Little Havana	a neighborhood in Miami with a large population of Cuban Americans	The Cuban exile community
9/11	a date (September 11)	The terrorist attacks to the USA that occurred on 9/11/2001

Australian

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
Canberra	capital of Australia	the Australian federal government
The Lodge	The official residence of the Prime Minister in Canberra	The Australian Prime Minister and his or her staff
Kirribilli House	The official residence of the Prime Minister in Sydney	The Australian Prime Minister and his or her staff
Spring Street	A street in the CBD of Melbourne	The Parliament of Victoria (located here), the Government of Victoria and its bureaucracy
Sussex Street	A street in the CBD of Sydney	The Australian Labor Party, whose New South Wales headquarters are here
The Waterfront	A part of a town that borders a body of water such as a Wharf	The 1998 Australian waterfront dispute, An industrial relations dispute involving port workers in 4 major Australian cities.

Canadian

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
24 Sussex Drive	Official residence of the Prime Minister	the Canadian Prime Minister and his or her staff
Rideau Hall	Official residence of the Governor General	the Canadian Governor General and his/her staff
Bay Street	Street in Toronto	the Canadian financial markets
Church Street	Street in Toronto	the LGBTQ community
Ottawa	capital of Canada	the Canadian federal government
Queen's Park	Park that houses the Ontario Legislative Building	the Government of Ontario
Waterloo	City in Ontario	Blackberry-maker Research In Motion, which is headquartered there

British

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
England	A country within the United Kingdom	the United Kingdom as a whole
Great Britain	Largest island in the United Kingdom	the United Kingdom as a whole
The Palace	Buckingham Palace	The Royal Household
Big Ben	The bell that resides in...	the famous clock tower in London
Clarence House	London palace where one finds…	The Household of The Prince of Wales
Downing Street or "Number 10"	Official residence of the Prime Minister	the British Prime Minister and his or her staff
Whitehall	A neighborhood of London in which may be found…	the offices of the British government's senior bureaucrats
The City	The City of London	the British financial markets, historically centred in The City
Westminster	The City of Westminster in London	The Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in Westminster.
Harley Street	A street in the City of Westminster, home to a high concentration of dentists, surgeons and physicians	the British private medical industry
Holyrood	A district in Edinburgh, where you can find…	the Scottish Parliament
Fleet Street	A street in London which was the original location of much of…	the British newspaper industry
Savile Row	A shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring.	fashionable, usually somewhat formal menswear
Scotland Yard	Name of the original headquarters of…	the Metropolitan Police
Stormont	Headquarters of…	the devolved administration in Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Executive or Northern Ireland Assembly.
Thames House	Headquarters of…	the British Security Services
Threadneedle Street	Headquarters of…	the Bank of England
Vauxhall Cross	Headquarters of…	the Secret Intelligence Service (aka MI6)
P45	A tax form issued when an employee leaves employment	termination of employment
UB40	A former form enabling a person to claim unemployment benefit (now Jobseeker's Allowance)	An unemployed person or a reggae/pop band which appropriated the term when high unemployment was rampant during the late 1970s

French

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
L'Élysée	The Élysée Palace, official residence of…	the French president and his or her staff
Matignon	The Hôtel Matignon, official residence of…	the French prime minister and his or her staff
Quai d'Orsay	a street in Paris where ...	the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has its offices

European

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
Berlaymont	The building housing…	the European Commission
Brussels	the capital city of Belgium, also home to most of the…	Institutions of the European Union
La Moncloa	The Palace of Moncloa, official residence of the President of the Government of Spain	The executive branch of the Government of Spain
Necessidades	The Palace of Necessidades, which is the home of the...	Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Portugal
Holland	A region (two provinces) of the Netherlands	the Netherlands as a whole
The Hague	Seat of Dutch government, which contains...	the International Criminal Court headquarters and the International Court of Justice at the Peace Palace
Toompea	A limestone hill in Tallinn, Estonia	The Government and Parliament of Estonia
Kadriorg	A residential area and a park in Tallinn, Estonia	The President of Estonia
Lijepa naša	Words meaning 'Our Beautiful' in Croatian, taken from the national anthem 'Lijepa naša domovino', often used as a metonym to denote the country itself.	Croatia.
Rome, Holy See, or The Vatican	Preeminent see of the Catholic Church	the Papacy or one of the institutions of the Roman Curia
Strasbourg	Alsatian city, which is the official seat of the…	European Parliament and the European Court of Human Rights

Rest of the world

Word	Original use	Metonymic use
The Kremlin	A fortified complex in Moscow	Formerly the Soviet government; used today to a lesser extent for the Russian government
Kasumigaseki	A district in Chiyoda, Tokyo where most of the Japanese cabinet ministry offices are located	The Japanese bureaucracy
Nagata-cho	A ward in Tokyo which houses the offices of the Prime Minister of Japan and the National Diet building	The Japanese government and legislature
Zion	a mountain/fortress in Jerusalem	the city of Jerusalem and more often, the land of Israel in general. NB. This can be taken to its allegorical extreme to refer to Paradise i.e. all God's People being Israel being saved. This is played on in the movie The Matrix.
The Beehive	A building in Wellington which houses the offices of the Prime Minister of New Zealand and his or her Cabinet	the Government of New Zealand in general
Gulag	chief administration of the Soviet forced labour camps	the prison camps it administered
Tiananmen Square	a large city square in the centre of Beijing	the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Malacañang	the Philippine presidential palace in Manila	the President of the Philippines
The Fener	A district in the heart of old Istanbul	The spiritual leadership of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and world Orthodoxy
Casa Rosada	Official residence of the President of Argentina	the executive branch of the Argentine government
Planalto	The Brazilian Highlands, which names the Palácio do Planalto, the official workplace of the President of Brazil	the executive branch of the Brazilian government
Islamabad	Capital of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan	Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Istana	Indonesian and Malay word for palace	the President of Indonesia
Zhongnanhai	A building complex in Central Beijing	Central headquarters of the Communist Party of China and the State Council of the People's Republic of China
Rashtrapati Bhavan	Presidential palace	The President of India's residence
Miraflores	Presidential palace	The President of Venezuela's residence
Cheong wa dae	The Blue House, a complex of building known as pavilion of blue tiles in northern Seoul	The executive branch of South Korea
Chinatown	named after the neighborhood in San Francisco	Common name for urban areas historically populated by expatriate Chinese people, and also for the culture or politics associated with such areas
Bollywood	District of Mumbai, the primary center of…	the Hindi-language film industry
La Compañía	Spanish word for company or corporation	It refers, in Honduras, to Tela Railroad Company, a subsidiary of Chiquita