METAPHOR, a species of rhetorical trope founded on the resemblance which one object bears to another. It is in reality only comparison or simile expressed in an abridged form. For example, the sentence,—"These men are lambs in the family, but lions in the field," is an example of metaphor; but to say, "These men are like lambs in the family, &c.," is an instance of simile or comparison. In short, the peculiar distinction between these two figures is, that in simile we say one object is like another, while in metaphor we drop the word expressing the similitude, and say one object is another. And hence the peculiar boldness which characterizes metaphor, and which is not to be found in the same degree in any of the figures of rhetoric. Those ordinary metaphors which long use has sanctioned have a tendency, in all languages, to sink to the level of common terms.