List of English-language metaphors

A list of metaphors in the English language organised alphabetically by type. A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels". Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance. In this broader sense, antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile would all be considered types of metaphor. Aristotle used both this sense and the regular, current sense above.^[1] With metaphor, unlike analogy, specific interpretations are not given explicitly.

Animals

Body parts

Nautical

Taken aback, on a sailing vessel the sails were 'taken aback' when the wind was unintentionally blowing on the wrong side of the sails causing a potentially dangerous situation. Later used to indicate a difficult or unexpected situation.^[2]
Batten down the hatches, to secure the hatch covers against ingress of water in preparation for a storm or other rough conditions.
Clear the decks to get everything out of the way as a warship went into action.^[2]
Show someone the ropes to show or explain to someone how to do a task or operation. Taken from the use of ropes to orient and adjust the sails, and that each rope is belayed at a specific place.
Sail close to the wind is to operate hazardously on very slim margins, usually applied in a financial sense. Derived from the practice of sailing close to the direction of the oncoming wind, where a small shift in the wrong direction could set the vessel aback.
Loaded to the gunwales
Back and fill
On one's beam ends
Awash
Adrift
A wide berth
Flagship
Unmoored
Nail one's colors to the mast, to commit completely to a course of action, as striking the colors is no longer an option
Flying the flag
Plain sailing
With flying colors - the colors was the national flag flown at sea during battle, a ship would surrender by lowering the colors and the term is now used to indicate a triumphant victory or win.^[2]
In the doldrums
All hands to the pumps
Weathering a storm
A different tack
Swinging the lead is to avoid duty by feigning illness or injury, original a confusion between Swing the leg which related to the way dogs can run on three legs to gain sympathy and the sailor's term heaving the lead which was to take soundings.^[2]
Left high and dry
Three sheets to the wind, meaning "staggering drunk," refers to a ship whose sheets have come loose, causing the sails to flap uncontrolled and the ship to meander at the mercy of the elements. Also, "Three sheets in the wind, unsteady from drink."^[3]
Sun over the yardarm: This phrase is widely used, both afloat and ashore, to indicate that the time of day has been reached at which it is acceptable to have lunch or (more commonly) to have an alcoholic beverage.
"Take soundings": In suspected shallow waters, a crew member may have the task of repeatedly throwing into the water a lead line, or piece of lead tied to a string knotted every fathom, for the purpose of estimating the depth of the sea.^[4] This saying the nautical equivalent of "Take the lay of the land": see how things are going, or see what people think about a proposed course of action. ^{[citation needed]}
"By and large" comes from a term for sailing a ship slightly off of the wind.^[5]
"To the bitter end" may have originally referred to a rope fastened to the bitt, a post attached on the deck of a ship,^[6] although this etymology has been disputed.^[7]

Objects

People

Places

Crossing the Rubicon
wikt:crossroads, a decision point; a turning point or opportunity to change direction, course, or goal.
Fork in the road (metaphor)
wikt:grey area, an area or topic that is not one thing or the other, or where the border between two things is fuzzy. See also wikt:fall between two stools
Ground zero
Mother lode
Plateau effect
Podunk
Point of no return
Slippery slope
Walk to Canossa

Science

Richard Honeck described three forms of scientific metaphors: "mixed scientific metaphor, the scientific metaphor theme, and the scientific metaphor that redefines a concept from a theory."^[8]

1959 Valency (linguistics), by Lucien Tesnière, from Valence (chemistry) (1789, by William Higgins)
1973 Inductor, by Deleuze and Guattari, from Electromagnetic induction (1831, by Michael Faraday)
1980 Rhizome (philosophy), by Deleuze and Guattari, from botanical rhizome

Sport

Various

War

Lists

References

^ The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) pp.653–55: "A rhetorical figure with two senses, both originating with Aristotle in the 4c BC: (I) All figures of speech that achieve their effects through association, comparison and resemblance. Figures like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile are [in that sense] all species of metaphor. [But] this sense is not current, ..."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jeans, Peter D (1998). Ship to Shore. Oxford, England: ABC-Clio. ISBN 1-85109-321-4.
^ Smyth, William Henry; Belcher, Edward (1867). The sailor's word-book: An alphabetical digest of nautical terms, including some more especially military and scientific ... as well as archaisms of early voyagers, etc. London: Blackie and Son. pp. 680, 121.
^ "Regulation 34 - Safe Navigation". IMO RESOLUTION A.893(21) adopted on 25 November 1999. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
^ "What is the origin of "by and large"?". The Straight Dope. 2001-04-18. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
^ "The Bitter End - Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase". Phrase Finder. 2023-12-11. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
^ Quinion, Michael (2009-11-12). "Bitter end". World Wide Words. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
^ Honeck, Richard P. (1980) Cognition and figurative language pp.405-417

Further reading

Isil, Olivia A. (1966). When a loose cannon flogs a dead horse there's the devil to pay: seafaring words in everyday speech. Camden ME: International Marine. ISBN 978-0-07-032877-8.
Miller, Charles A. (2003). Ship of state: the nautical metaphors of Thomas Jefferson : with numerous examples by other writers from classical antiquity to the present. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-2516-6.
Milligan, Christopher S.; Smith, David C. (1997). "Language from the Sea: Discovering the Meaning and Origin of Nautical Metaphors". English Quarterly. 28 (4): 36–40.
Naval Air Station Jacksonville (1942). "Service Jargon". 9780070328778A-V(S) Indoctrination School. Department of the Navy. Retrieved June 17, 2010.

[English_Language_1992_pp.653-1] The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) pp.653–55: "A rhetorical figure with two senses, both originating with Aristotle in the 4c BC: (I) All figures of speech that achieve their effects through association, comparison and resemblance. Figures like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile are [in that sense] all species of metaphor. [But] this sense is not current, ..."

[Jeans-2] Jeans, Peter D (1998). Ship to Shore. Oxford, England: ABC-Clio. ISBN 1-85109-321-4.

[smyth1-3] Smyth, William Henry; Belcher, Edward (1867). The sailor's word-book: An alphabetical digest of nautical terms, including some more especially military and scientific ... as well as archaisms of early voyagers, etc. London: Blackie and Son. pp. 680, 121.

[reg34-4] "Regulation 34 - Safe Navigation". IMO RESOLUTION A.893(21) adopted on 25 November 1999. Retrieved March 26, 2007.

[5] "What is the origin of "by and large"?". The Straight Dope. 2001-04-18. Retrieved 2024-11-27.

[6] "The Bitter End - Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase". Phrase Finder. 2023-12-11. Retrieved 2024-11-27.

[7] Quinion, Michael (2009-11-12). "Bitter end". World Wide Words. Retrieved 2024-11-27.

[8] Honeck, Richard P. (1980) Cognition and figurative language pp.405-417

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