what are metaphors???

Metaphor??!! Metaphor is the concept of understanding one thing in terms of another. It is indeed a figure speech that constructs an analogy between two things or ideas: the analogy is conveyed by the use of a metaphorical word in place of some other words. For example: ''Her eyes were glistering jewels''.

It denotes rhetorical figures of speech that achieve theirs effects via association, comparison or resemblance.
 (e.g., antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile, which are all types of metaphor)

Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. A metaphor is more forceful (active) than an analogy, because metaphor asserts two things are the same, whereas analogy implies a difference; other rhetorical comparative figures of speech, such as metonymy, parable, simileand synecdoche, are species of metaphor distinguished by how the comparison is communicated. The metaphor category also contains these specialised types:

• allegory: An extended metaphor wherein a story illustrates an important attribute of the subject
• catachresis: A mixed metaphor used by design and accident (a rhetorical fault)
• parable: An extended metaphor narrated as an anecdote illustrating and teaching a moral lesson.

In fact, there are common types of metaphors and uncommon types for the metaphors.


For common type:

• A dead metaphor is one in which the sense of a transferred image is absent. Examples: "to grasp a concept" and "to gather what you've understood" use physical action as a metaphor for understanding. Most people do not visualize the action — dead metaphors normally go unnoticed. Some people distinguish between a dead metaphor and a cliché. Others use "dead metaphor" to denote both.
• An extended metaphor (conceit), establishes a principal subject (comparison) and subsidiary subjects (comparisons). The As You Like It quotation is a good example, the world is described as a stage, and then men and women are subsidiary subjects further described in the same context.
• A mixed metaphor is one that leaps from one identification to a second identification inconsistent with the first. Example: "If we can hit that bullseye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate." Quote from Futurama TV show character Zapp Brannigan.
• Per Hans Blumenberg’s metaphorology, absolute metaphor denotes a figure or a concept that cannot be reduced to, or replaced with solely conceptual thought and language. Absolute metaphors, e.g. “light” (for “truth”) and “seafaring” (for “human existence”) – have distinctive meanings (unlike the literal meanings), and, thereby, function as orientations in the world, and as theoretic questions, such as presenting the world as a whole. Because they exist at the pre-predicative level, express and structurepragmatic and theoretical views of Man and the World.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor

So, what is a metaphor? A metaphor is like a simile. That's because it is a comparison that is made between things, which is not always likely or obvious.

However, the explicit use of the word 'like' or 'as' which you see in a simile, is not used in a metaphor which is rather a comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be".

Hence, a metaphor sounds more forceful and suggestive, but is still very common in speech. Common metaphors include "the neck of the woods" or "the foot of the mountain". These can be seen to be similar to similes - they suggest a comparison but do not make it explicitly.

We often use metaphors without realising it. For instance, when we say that your parents 'bark a command' at you, you are comparing them to a dog, and hence engaging in metaphor! Below is a collection of metaphors and idioms, sent in by you, our wonderful readers!

Metaphors Example:

A heart of stone (from Rebecca)
He has the heart of a lion
You are the sun in my sky
You are the light in my life
She is my East and my West, my compass.
You had better pull your socks up
Life is a mere dream, a fleeting shadow on a cloudy day.
Love is a lemon - either bitter of sweet (from Scott)
Drowning in the sea
Jumping for joy
Rolling in dough
Apple of my eye
It is raining cats and dogs
Love is a fragile flower opening to the warmth of Spring
Information travels faster in this modern age as our days start crawling away.
Life has a tendency to come back and bite you in the ass.
A riverboat shall be my horse.
A light in a sea of darkness.
Strength and dignity are her clothing.
A laugh in a sea of sadness.
The noise is music to my ears
He swam in the sea of diamonds
His belt was a snake curling around his waist
Love is a camara, full of memories.
She ran like the Wind
Love is a growing garland.
Your friendship is the picture to my frame
Authority is a chair, it needs legs to stand up.
Once your hearts been broken it grows back bigger.
His hair is a white snowflake and his hair is a messy haystack
You are the expression of my heart. You care for me and love me all the time.
I'm Heartbroken
The pidgeons fountained into the air
His hair was bone white
He tried to help but his legs were rubber
It's raining men
Kicked the bucket
The sea is a hungry dog.
She is a dog when she eats
He has a voice of a wolf.
Crocodiles' teeth are white daggers.
Apple of my heart
A roundabout is a turtle shell.
Fire is day, when it goes out it's night
School is a gateway to adulthood
He slithered into town quietly so no one would notice when he dug his fangs in and slowly poisoned their minds.
Leaping with laughter - From Trinita
The silence was a blood-cudling scream of anguish, set out to break my soul 

Source: http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/spoon/metaphors.php