In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
METAPHOR
metaphor
(noun) a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
metaphor (countable and uncountable, plural metaphors)
(uncountable and countable, figure of speech) The use of a word or phrase to refer to something that it is not, invoking a direct similarity between the word or phrase used and the thing described (but in the case of English without the words like or as, since use of those words would imply a simile); the word or phrase used in this way; an implied comparison.
(countable, GUI) The use of an everyday object or concept to represent an underlying facet of the computer and thus aid users in performing tasks.
Hypernyms
• (rhetoric): figure of speech, trope
Verb
metaphor (third-person singular simple present metaphors, present participle metaphoring, simple past and past participle metaphored)
(intransitive) To use a metaphor.
(transitive) To describe by means of a metaphor.
Anagrams
• prothema
Source: Wiktionary
Met"a*phor, n. Etym: [F. métaphore, L. metaphora, fr. Gr. meta` beyond, over + fe`rein to bring, bear.] (Rhet.)
Definition: The transference of the relation between one set of objects to another set for the purpose of brief explanation; a compressed simile; e. g., the ship plows the sea. Abbott & Seeley. "All the world's a stage." Shak.
Note: The statement, "that man is a fox," is a metaphor; but "that man is like a fox," is a simile, similitude, or comparison.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
6 May 2025
HEEDLESS
(adjective) marked by or paying little heed or attention; “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics”--Franklin D. Roosevelt; “heedless of danger”; “heedless of the child’s crying”
Coffee Trivia
