What is metaphor?
"You're a peach!" We've all heard the expression, and it's a good example of what we call metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase denotingone kind of object or action is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them: the person being addressed in "you're a peach" is being equated with a peach, with the suggestion being that the person is pleasing or delightful in the way that a peach is pleasing and delightful. A metaphor is an implied comparison, as in "the silk of the singer's voice," in contrast to the explicit comparison of the simile,
Simile vs. Metaphor
Many people have trouble distinguishing between simile and metaphor. A glance at their Latin and Greek roots offers a simple way of telling these two closely-related figures of speech apart. Simile comes from the Latin word similis (meaning “similar, like”), which seems fitting, since the comparison indicated by a simile will typically contain the words as or like. Metaphor, on the other hand, comes from the Greek word metapherein
Examples of metaphor in a Sentence
You see, menudo is our chicken soup for the body and soul, our metaphor for bread-and-butter issues.— Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury News, 20 May 2003The hapless Humpty Dumpty often crops up as a metaphor for the second law of thermodynamics.
First Known Use of metaphor
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
History and Etymology for metaphor
Middle English methaphor, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French metaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Greek, from metapherein to transfer, from meta- + pherein to bear — more at BEAR
