A ‘dead’ metaphor has effectively reverted to being an ordinary word.. Dying metaphors [or] worn-out metaphors have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.
Examples are:
- Ring the changes on,
- take up the cudgel for,
- toe the line,
- ride roughshod over,
- stand shoulder to shoulder with,
- play into the hands of,
- no axe to grind,
- grist to the mill,
- fishing in troubled waters,
- on the order of the day,
- Achilles’ heel,
- swan song,
- hotbed.
Many are used without knowledge of their meaning (e.g. ‘rift’), and incompatible metaphors are frequently mixed.
Source: “Political Language” by George Orwell
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