what is a metaphor?

Question

give simple examples

Answer 1

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or “All the world's a stage” (Shakespeare).

Answer 2

When you say "the sea is my captain" you are being metaphorical, because the sea can't be a captain. Most of the time they come out sounding pretentious and silly. Unless you really know what you are doing(and even then...), you should just say what you mean, that the sea is as a captain. Everybody knows the sea can't be a captain, so why bother? Especially when you get particularly cryptic and then people don't know what's true.
I think metaphors were developed as a way to show the characteristics of something without describing every last detail, which can kill the mood.

Answer 3

In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. In the simplest case, this takes the form: "The [first subject] is a [second subject]." More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second subject in some way. Thus, the first subject can be economically described because implicit and explicit attributes from the second subject are used to enhance the description of the first. This device is known for usage in literature, especially in poetry, where with few words, emotions and associations from one context are associated with objects and entities in a different context.

Metaphor comprises a subset of analogy and closely relates to other rhetorical concepts such as comparison, simile, allegory and parable.

Answer 4

a metaphor is a comparison of 2 things WITHOUT using like or as...that's more or less a simple meaning....a metaphor can also have a deeper, almost hidden meaning, which can be much more philosophical and hold a universal meaning...if you are familiar with Homer's composition the Odyssey, that is called a Homeric simile, which is an extended metaphor.

Answer 5

The word "metaphor" is itself a metaphor. It means "carry something across". What it actually means is: say something IS something, when in fact it is merely similar to that something in some way.

Yahoo Answers is a blast.
My job is a killer.
England are rubbish.

Whatever you think of the England football team, they are not actually composed of squashed tin cans and mouldy banana skins.

But if you want THE TRUTH go rent "Il Postino" - great Italian movie from a few years back.

The postie wants poet Neruda to explain metaphors to him and help him to make one up. The postie comes out with a metaphor accidentally one day without knowing he did it

Neruda: Una metafora!
Postino: No!
Neruda: Si!

Trust me, it's a hoot.

Answer 6

a metaphor is a comparison of object and things we see and smell and collect, for example; let's say that you have been working at a job that you hate, you come home and say " Jesus Christ, My job is hell" the keyword in this is "is" we all know that jobs can not be hell although you are expressing yourself in this manner, do not get it confused with simile, which is almost the same as a Metaphor.

Answer 7

a metaphor is a comparison of two things without using the words like or as.

Answer 8

A metaphor is a comparison between two words without using like or as between them. (A comparison with like or as between them would be a simile)
ex or a simile: The water was as blue as the sky
ex of metafore: it's teeth were thorns on my skin

Answer 9

Some examples:

I'm all ears
your face is an open book

Those are cliches though. I can't think of any really good and original ones just now.

Answer 10

It's a type of comparison, where you say that one thing is another thing, to give it the qualities of that other thing.

Eg. The road was a ribbon of moonlight.
Get back to your sty. (You are saying the person is pig-like)