metaphor

1. N-VAR A metaphor is an imaginative way of describing something by referring to something else which is the same in a particular way. For example, if you want to say that someone is very shy and frightened of things, you might say that they are a mouse. 隐喻

...the avoidance of violent expressions and metaphors like "kill two birds with one stone."

…避免使用有暴力意味的表达和隐喻，如“一石二鸟。”

2. N-VAR If one thing is a metaphor for another, it is intended or regarded as a symbol of it. 象征

The divided family remains a powerful metaphor for a society that continued to tear itself apart. 破裂的家庭仍然是一个持续分裂的社会的有力象征。

3. PHRASE If you mix your metaphors, you use two conflicting metaphors. People do this accidentally, or sometimes deliberately as a joke. 把两个矛盾的隐喻混用在一起

To mix yet more metaphors, you were trying to run before you could walk, and I've clipped your wings. 再混用一些隐喻，你还不会走就想跑，而我又修短了你的翅膀。