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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".
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
Formulaic language (previously known as automatic speech or embolalia) is a linguistic term for verbal expressions that are fixed in form, often non-literal in meaning with attitudinal nuances, and closely related to communicative-pragmatic context. [1]
A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial phrase as:
The words constituting idioms are stored as catenae in the lexicon, and as such, they are concrete units of syntax. The dependency grammar trees of a few sentences containing non-constituent idioms illustrate the point: The fixed words of the idiom (in orange) in each case are linked together by dependencies; they form a catena.
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In 1900, Frederick Schmidt referred to particle verbs in the Middle English writings of Reginald Pecock as "phrasal verbs", though apparently without intending it as a technical term. [3] The term was popularized by Logan Pearsall Smith in Words and Idioms (1925), in which he states that the OED editor Henry Bradley suggested it to him. [4]
After a singular LSD experience, Dederich conjured up a drug-free commune for heroin addicts in Santa Monica. Dederich held that addicts lacked maturity or the ability to handle freedom responsibly. They must be broken down to be built back up. “Comfort is not for adults,” Dederich argued in a taped speech during the commune’s early days.