met⋅a⋅phor /‘metəfo/noun
 

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.
 

ORIGIN:   1533, from Middle French metaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Greek   metaphora “a transfer,” especially of the sense of one word to a   different word, lit. “a carrying over,” from metapherein “transfer,   carry over,” from meta- “over, across” (see meta-) + pherein “to carry,   bear” (see bear (v.)).