Examples
There are many examples of dead metaphors in the English language. A brief list of examples is given below.
- flowerbed
- head teacher
- forerunner
- to run for office
- to lose face
- to lend a hand
- to broadcast
- pilot -- originally meant the rudder of a boat.
- flair -- originally meant a sweet smell.
- a computer mouse
- (tele)phone is ringing (original telephones had bells)
- fishing for compliments
- seeds of doubt
- catch her name
- world wide web
- tulip -- originally meant the eastern headdress, the turban.
- turn-on
- flared jeans
- he ploughed through the traffic lights
- foothills or the foot of a mountain
- brow of the hill
- branches of government
- windfall gain
- fly
- kidney beans
- "nightfall" - originally from the growing shade under an object which occurs when the object is dropped or falling
- The Body of an essay- originally connected to human anatomy
- infinitesimal calculus
Read more about this topic: Dead Metaphor
Famous quotes containing the word examples:
“Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“No rules exist, and examples are simply life-savers answering the appeals of rules making vain attempts to exist.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)
“There are many examples of women that have excelled in learning, and even in war, but this is no reason we should bring ‘em all up to Latin and Greek or else military discipline, instead of needle-work and housewifry.”
—Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733)