Metaphor
Definition:
- A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar (the tenor) in terms of the familiar (the vehicle). When Neil Young sings, "Love is a rose," "rose" is the vehicle for "love," the tenor. Adjective: metaphorical. Related terms include mixed metaphor, dead metaphor, extended metaphor, and catachresis.
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A
metaphor, as defined in our glossary, is a figure of speech in which an implied
comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something
important in common. The word metaphor itself is a metaphor, coming from
a Greek word meaning to "transfer" or "carry across."
Metaphors "carry" meaning from one word, image, or idea to another.
Examples
- "Memory is a crazy
woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food."
(Austin O'Malley)
- "Words are bullets,
and should be used sparingly, aimed toward a target."
(Army Colonel Dick Hallock)
- "It would be more
illuminating . . . to say that the metaphor creates the similarity
than to say that it formulates some similarity antecedently
existing."
(Max Black, Models and Metaphors, 1962)
- "Language is a road
map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they
are going."
(Rita Mae Brown)
- The energy, the faith, the
devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all
who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."
(John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961)
- Carl: According to the map,
the cabin should be right here.
Lenny: Hey, maybe there is no cabin. Maybe it's one of them metaphorical things.
Carl: Oh yeah, yeah. Like maybe the cabin is the place inside each of us, created by our goodwill and teamwork.
Lenny: Nah, they said there would be sandwiches.
(The Simpsons)
- "Time is a dressmaker
specializing in alterations."
(Faith Baldwin)
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