Definition of Mixed metaphor

1. Noun. A combination of two or more metaphors that together produce a ridiculous effect.

Generic synonyms: Metaphor

Definition of Mixed metaphor

1. Noun. (linguistics) An overreaching or contradictory combination of two distinct metaphors, similes or idioms. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Mixed Metaphor

mixed hyperlipoproteinaemia familial
mixed hypoglycaemia
mixed infection
mixed inhibition
mixed initiative
mixed language
mixed languages
mixed lymphocyte culture
mixed lymphocyte culture test
mixed lymphocyte reaction
mixed marriage
mixed marriages
mixed martial arts
mixed mesodermal tumour
mixed message
mixed metaphor
mixed metaphors
mixed mutation
mixed nerve
mixed nuisance
mixed nuts
mixed opioid agonist-antagonist
mixed oxide
mixed paralysis
mixed picture
mixed reaction
mixed reactions
mixed signal
mixed sleep apnoea
mixed thrombus

Literary usage of Mixed metaphor

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Highland Bagpipe: Its History, Literature, and Music, with Some Account by Wiliam Laird Manson (1901)
"And make a viler noise than swine, In windy weather when they whine." —Hudibras. Poking fun nt the pipes—English caricature—mixed metaphor— ..."

2. Metaphor and Simile in the Minor Elizabethan Drama by Frederic Ives Carpenter (1895)
"Catachresis and mixed metaphor we naturally expect to find largely exemplified in a diction such as that of the Elizabethan dramatists, and far-fetched ..."

3. Language for Men of Affairs (1920)
"mixed metaphor The figurative language of talk is full of liveliness and graphic quality, but is apt to be careless and incongruous. ..."

4. The Miller-Palmer High School English by William Dana Miller, Margaret Wilhelmine Oberempt Palmer (1918)
"Here is another well-known example of mixed metaphor: I bridle in my ... In this mixed metaphor the muse is first likened to a horse and then to a ship. ..."

5. Wit and Humor of the American Pulpit: A Collection from Various Sources by Henry Frederic] [Redall (1904)
"Sometimes the mixed metaphor arises from a deficient education. Thus, that good man, the late Father Taylor, of Boston, had little knowledge of grammar. ..."

6. The King's English by Henry Watson Fowler, Francis George Fowler (1906)
"Every one is on his guard when his metaphor is intentional ; the nonsense that is talked about mixed metaphor, and the celebrity of one or two genuine ..."

7. Constructive Rhetoric by Edward Everett Hale (1896)
"But this is not a mixed metaphor: it is a rapid succession of very incongruous ... A really mixed metaphor seems to be the following from something of ..."

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