For example, a common one is calling someone who helps out a hired-hand. Another example is gumshoe for a detective, or a private eye. Sometimes the association might be metaphorical, like whips in politics. Is there a general term for this phenomenon of using objects to stand in for people who use the objects?
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6These linguistic devices are more generally (eg 'sail' to stand for 'ship') known as metonymy and synecdoche, which you can easily look up. There are some good articles here, eg What is the difference between metonymy and synecdoche?. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 09 '15 at 19:45