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Tropes (from Greek trepein, 'to turn') change the general meaning of words. An example of a trope is irony, which is the use of words to convey the opposite of their usual meaning ("For Brutus is an honorable man; / So are they all, all honorable men"). During the Renaissance, scholars meticulously enumerated and classified figures of speech.
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).
A language is a dialect with an army and navy; The last drop makes the cup run over; Laugh before breakfast, cry before supper; Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone; Laughter is the best medicine; Late lunch makes day go faster; Learn a language, and you will avoid a war (Arab proverb) [5] Least said, soonest mended
OED cites the boxing usage to 1958, figurative use to 1970. [55] one-two (punch), the old one-two Boxing An attack consisting of two punches in rapid succession with alternate hands. OED cites boxing usage to 1811, figurative usage to 1948. The phrase the old one-two is cited in 1960, but quotes it from "a more vulgarly robust age". [56] out ...
A common intended effect of figurative language is to elicit audience responses that are more emotional (like excitement, shock, laughter, etc.), aesthetic, or intellectual. Literal usage confers meaning to words, in the sense of the meaning words have by themselves, [2] for example as defined in a dictionary.
The easiest stylistic device to identify is a simile, signaled by the use of the words "like" or "as". A simile is a comparison used to attract the reader's attention and describe something in descriptive terms. Example: "From up here on the fourteenth floor, my brother Charley looks like an insect scurrying among other insects." (from "Sweet ...
Many natural language words have idiomatic origins but are assimilated and so lose their figurative senses. For example, in Portuguese, the expression saber de coração 'to know by heart', with the same meaning as in English, was shortened to 'saber de cor', and, later, to the verb decorar , meaning memorize .
Based on common linguistic definitions, an idiom is a combination of words that contains a meaning that cannot be understood based on the literal definition of the individual words. [1] An example of an idiom is hit the sack, which means to go to bed. It can be used in a sentence like the following: I'm beat; I'm gonna hit the sack. [2]