Metaphors Dictionary: 6,500 Comparative Phrases, including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors - Hardcover

"Rates a recommendation to lovers of language."-- William Safire, New York Times

"The most comprehensive work of its kind. A valuable addition to reference works on words."-- Booklist

"A good heavy book holds you down. It's an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic."-- Roy Blount metaphor, Page 47

Rates a recommendation to lovers of language. William Safire, New York Times. A masterful metaphor, like a picture, may be worth a thousand words. By comparing two unlike objects or ideas, it illuminates the similarities between them, accomplishing in a word or phrase what could otherwise be expressed only in many words, if at all. Metaphors Dictionary is an expansive collection of 6,500 colorful classic and contemporary comparative phrases (with full annotations and a complete bibliography of sources). The Metaphors Dictionary revisits most of the great and respected names in the annals of cultural literacy while dipping into current literature and media sources. And now available for the first time in hard cover, it’s bound for heavy duty at a price that’s hard to beat.