noun
pl. met·a·lep·ses,- A figure of speech in which a word or phrase makes indirect reference to another figure of speech. For example, in “His new leaf turned out to be short-lived, and his life spiraled back out of control,” “new leaf” alludes to the expression “turn over a new leaf.”
- A narrative device that involves transgressing the boundary between a fictional world and the real world or between two discrete fictional worlds, as when a character from one TV series makes an appearance in a different series.
Origin of metalepsis
Latin metalēpsis from Greek alternation, succession, the use of one word for another from metalambanein, metalēp- to take instead, substitute, receive in succession meta- meta- lambanein, lēp- to take