catachresis

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

catachresis
    n 1: strained or paradoxical use of words either in error (as
         `blatant' to mean `flagrant') or deliberately (as in a
         mixed metaphor: `blind mouths')

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Catachresis \Cat`a*chre"sis\, n. [L. fr. Gr. ? misuse, fr. ? to
   misuse; kata` against + ? to use.] (Rhet.)
   A figure by which one word is wrongly put for another, or by
   which a word is wrested from its true signification; as, "To
   take arms against a sea of troubles". --Shak. "Her voice was
   but the shadow of a sound." --Young.
   [1913 Webster] Catachrestic