reversed\ epithets

colloq.

инвертированные эпитеты

based on the contradiction between the logical and the syntactical: logically defining becomes syntactically defined and vice versa. The article with the second noun will help in doubtful cases

"this devil of a woman" instead of "this devilish woman", "the giant man" (a gigantic man); "the prude of a woman" (a prudish woman), "the toy of a girl" (a small, toylike girl), "the kitten of a woman" (a kittenlike woman)

She was a faded white rabbit of a woman. (A.Cronin)

a doll of a wife (the wife is like a doll), an angel of a girl (the girls is an angel), a hell of a mess, a devil of a sea, a dwarf of a fellow, a horse of a girl, a fool of a policeman, a hook of a nose, a vow of a hat, a jewel of a film (I.V.A.)

a two-legged ski-rocket of a kid, a forty-pound skunk of a freckled wild cat (I.V.A.)

See: epithet