ETYM French métaphore, Latin metaphora, from Greek metaphora, from metapherein to carry over, transfer; meta beyond, over + pherein to bring, bear.
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.
Figure of speech using an analogy or close comparison between two things that are not normally treated as if they had anything in common. Metaphor is a common means of extending the uses and references of words. See also simile.
If we call people cabbages or foxes, we are indicating that in our opinion they share certain qualities with those vegetables or animals: an inert quality in the case of cabbages, a cunning quality in the case of foxes, which may lead on to calling people “foxy” and saying “He really foxed them that time”, meaning that he tricked them. If a scientist is doing research in the field of nuclear physics, the word “field” results from comparison between scientists and farmers (who literally work in fields). Such usages are metaphorical.