Dead metaphor - Wikipedia Dead metaphor A dead metaphor is a figure of speech which has lost the original imagery of its meaning due to extensive, repetitive, and popular usage. Because dead metaphors have a conventional meaning that differs from the original, they can be understood without knowing their earlier connotation. Dead metaphors are generally the result of a semantic shift in the evolution of a language, a process called the literalization of a metaphor. A distinction is often made between those dead metaphors whose origins are entirely unknown to the majority of people using them ( such as the expression `` to kick the bucket '' ) and those whose source is widely known or symbolism easily understood but not often thought about ( the idea of `` falling in love '' ). The long standing metaphorical application of a term can similarly lose their metaphorical quality, coming simply to denote a larger application of the term. The wings of a plane now no longer seem to metaphorically refer to a bird 's wings ; rather, the term ' wing ' was expanded to include non-living things. Similarly, the legs of a chair is no longer a metaphor but an expansion of the term `` leg '' to include any supporting pillar. There is debate among literary scholars whether so - called `` dead metaphors '' are dead or are metaphors. Literary scholar R.W. Gibbs noted that for a metaphor to be dead, it would necessarily lose the metaphorical qualities that it comprises. These qualities, however, still remain. A person can understand the expression `` falling head - over-heels in love '' even if they have never encountered that variant of the phrase `` falling in love ''. Analytic philosopher Max Black argued that the dead metaphor should not be considered a metaphor at all, but rather classified as a separate vocabulary item. Dead Metaphor is also the name of a play by George F. Walker. Examples Time is running out ( In reference to an hourglass ) References Jump up ^ Pawelec, Andrzej. `` The Death of Metaphor '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 2014 - 11 - 20. Jump up ^ David Snowball, Continuity and Change in the Rhetoric of the Moral Majority, p. 126 Jump up ^ Travers, Michael David ( June 1996 ). `` Programming with Agents ''. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2009 - 12 - 08. Jump up ^ `` dead metaphor ''. Merriam - Webster. Retrieved 20 November 2014. Look up dead metaphor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. This linguistics article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dead_metaphor&oldid=813587674 '' Categories : Metaphors by type Linguistics stubs Talk About Wikipedia فارسی Edit links This page was last edited on 4 December 2017, at 05 : 51. About Wikipedia

Question: what is an example of a dying metaphor
Answer: "to kick the bucket"