Metonymy - the phenomenon whereby an expression that basically refers to one entity is used to indicate some other entity associated with it in a given domain - is frequently invoked as a factor in meaning change. Well-known examples include Middle English 'bedes' (prayers > beads), and Dutch 'winkel' (corner > shop). The present chapter argues that such sense shifts may involve no metonymic construal at all, on either speakers' or hearers' part. The model assumes speakers using words in their conventional senses, with hearers inferring innovative senses based on contextual meanings of usage events within which the words are commonly embedded. A dynamic usage-based analysis of semantic change is proposed, in which newer lexical meanings emerge through "semantic backformation" from contextualized utterance meaning. (Kurt Queller)