Chapter 4
Sense and Communication Metaphors
• Five Senses: Taste, Smell, Touch,
Hearing, Sight
– See also Chapter 5: Plant and Food
Metaphors
• Communication: Music, Voice, Writing
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Vocabulary Plus:
A Source-Based Approach
www.ablongman.com/nilsen
By Don L. F. Nilsen
And Alleen Pace Nilsen
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Visual Double Entendre
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Black | White
Basic Metaphors
Black eye
Black hole in space
Black market
Black out
Black tie event
Blackball someone
Blackbird
Blackboard
Blackjack
Blackmail
Blacksmith
In the black (accounting)
White-collar crime
White elephant gift
The White House
White lie
White lightening
(moonshine whiskey)
White out (blizzard)
White sale (linens)
(Nilsen & Nilsen 76-77, 96, 99)
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Red | Yellow | Blue
Primary-Color Metaphors
Caught red handed
In the red
Red alert
Red-blooded
American
Red-eye flight
Red Cross
Red herring
Red-letter day
Redcap
Redcoat
Redhead
Redneck
Reds (Communists)
Redshirting an athlete
Rouge
Stanford Cardinal
Washington Redskins
Roll out the red carpet
--------------Jaundiced Fr
“jaune” yellow
Old Yeller by Fred
Gipson
Yellow fever
Yellow Pages
Yellowjacket
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Black and blue
Blue chip stocks
Blue collar worker
Bluebird
Bluecoats (Union
army)
The Bluest Eye by
Toni Morrison
Bluegrass state
Blueprint
Blues (New Orleans)
Out of the blue
(Nilsen & Nilsen 76-77, 95, 97, 99)
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Green | Brown
Natural Metaphors
Green card
Green produce (not ripe)
Green with envy
Greenbacks
Green grocer (sells vegetables)
Greenhouse
Greenhouse effect
(atmospheric warming)
Greenlight (traffic)
Greenlight (go-ahead)
Greens (vegetables)
Greens fees (golf)
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Brown (name)
Brownies (confection)
Brownies (magical elves)
Brown bag presentation
Brown Betty (apple cobbler)
Brown out
Brownstone brick
(Nilsen & Nilsen 76-77, 97-98)
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Grey | Orange | Pink | Purple
Non-Basic Colors
Gandolf the
Grey
Gray winter
days
Gray Panthers
Grey beard
Grey matter
(brains)
Greyhound
The greying of
America
Clockwork
Orange by
Anthony
Burgess
Orange (fruit)
Orangeman
Society (North
of Ireland)
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Pink Bollworm
(eats cotton)
Pink-Collar
workers
(women)
Pinkeye
Pinkie finger
Pinko
(Communist
leanings)
Tickled pink
Purple Heart
Purple
Passage (for
writers)
The Color
Purple by
Alice Walker
(Nilsen & Nilsen 97-98)
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Greek phone (sound)
Latin sonus (sound)
Latin cantare (singing)
Cacophonous
Euphonious
Microphone
Phonics
Phonograph
Phonology
Symphony
Telephone
Consonant
Resonate
Resounding
Sonata
Sonic boom
Sonnet
Sonogram (in
medicine)
Sonorous
Sound idea
Ultrasound
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Chant
Chanteys (what
sailors sing as they
work)
Cantor
Encanto Park
Enchantments
Incantations
(Nilsen & Nilsen 89)
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Latin tonus (tension)
as with the vocal folds
Intonation
Monotone
Monotonous
Loony Tunes
Tone (color
nuance)
Tone down the
confrontation
Tone up the body
Tonette (musical
instrument)
Tune (musical
piece)
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Tune into a radio
station
Tune someone in
or out
Tune up an
instrument
(Nilsen & Nilsen 90-91)
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Music | L opus (work) | Gk oide (song)
Bandwagon
Conducting
research
Marching to a
different
drummer
Orchestrating
Magnus Opus
Cf. Chef
d’oeuvre
(masterpiece)
Cf. Hors
d’oeuvre
appetizer
Opera  L opus
(work job)
Opus
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Melody
Ode
Parody  Gk
para
(alongside) &
oide (song)
(Nilsen & Nilsen 91)
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Musical Instruments
Arpegio (played as
if on a harp)
Brake drum
Drum stick
Drumming up
business
Ear drum
Fiddle sticks
Fiddler crab
Flauta (food)
Fluted collar
Fluted column
Harp seal
Harping about
something
Harpsichord
Horn (originally
animal’s horn)
Horn of plenty
Horned owl
Hornet
Horny
Lyrical
Lyricist
Lyrics
Organ Pipe Cactus
Pied Piper
Piping
(Nilsen & Nilsen 93-94)
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Theatre Words
1st & 2nd stage
Applaud  L
laud (praise
acclaim)
Applause
Laudable
Magna Cum
Laude
Summa Cum
Laude
Cf: G laut
(sound)
Cf: E loud
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Offstage
Ovation  L
ovare (exult)
Stagecoach
Upstaging
someone
(Nilsen & Nilsen 89, 92)
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Communication Metaphors
Called on the carpet
Cat call
Chat room
Chatterbox
Communicable disease
A cry for help
A crying shame
Something unspeakable
Speakeasy (during prohibition)
Speaker of the House
Taking Communion
To talk (reveal secrets)
Teller’s cage
Walkie Talkie
Within shouting distance
(neighbors)
(Nilsen & Nilsen 79-80)
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Etymologies
Obi-Wan Error: HAL
IBM
SPAM (Spiced hAM)
USTL (Use the Source,
Luke)
Vulcan Nerve Pinch
(Nilsen & Nilsen 77-78)
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Latin Dicere (Speak)
Latin Jocus (Joke)
Latin Lexis (Word)
Dictaphone
Dictator
Dictatorial
Diction
Dictionary
Dictum
Jocund
Joke
The Joker
Juggler
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Lexical
Lexicographer
Lexicon
(Nilsen & Nilsen 82)
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Latin Loquere (Speak)
Latin Plangere (Lament)
Latin Quere (Ask)
Circumlocution
Colloquial
Colloquium
Colloquy
Elocution
Eloquent
Grandiloquence
Loquacious
Ventriloquist
Complainant
Complaint
Plaintiff
Plaintive
Query
Quest
Question
Questionable
Inquest
Inquiry
(Nilsen & Nilsen 84)
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Latin Onyma (Name)
Acronym
Anonymous
Antonym
Aptronym
Caconym
Cryptonym
Eponym
Euphonym
Heteronym
Homonym
Metonymy
Name
Nickname
Nominal
Nomination
Patronym
Penname
Pseudonym
Stressonym
Synonym
(Nilsen & Nilsen 83)
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Latin Parabola (Comparison)
Parable
Parabola (in geometry)
Parlay a bet  F
“parler” (speak)
Parley (conference)
Parliament
Parliamentary
procedure
Parlor
Parse (a sentence)
Parseltongue (in Harry
Potter books)
(Nilsen & Nilsen 83)
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Vox: Latin for Voice
Avocation (hobby)
Equivocation
Invocation
Provoke
Revoked licence
To equivocate
To evoke
To invoke harsh
punishment
Vocation
Vox populi
(Nilsen & Nilsen 81)
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Alphabet Shapes
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More Alphabet Shapes
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Germanic Spel (tale) |
Latin Scribere (to write) |
Greek Graphein (writing or drawing)
Casting a spell
Magic spell
Sit a spell (while)
Spell out (be
specific)
Spelling bee
Spell-binding
(story teller)
Conscription (army)
Describe
Inscribe
Manuscript
P.S.
Prescription
Scribe
Scribble
Scripted
Scripture
Scrivener
Subscribe
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Autograph
Cartography (from
René DesCartes)
Demographics
Graffiti
Graph
Graphemes
Graphite
Graphic
Graphologist
Monograph
Polygraph test
(Nilsen & Nilsen 87)
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Latin Signum (mark)
Greek Stizein (tattoo)
Latin Rhetorica (oratory)
Assigned
Design
Designate
Ensign (Navy)
Insignia
Resignation
Sign (of things to
come)
Signal
Signature
Signet ring
Significant
Signify
Stigma
Stigmata
Stigmatized
Rhetoric
Rhetorical
(insignificant)
Rhetorical
question
Rhetorician
(Nilsen & Nilsen 87-88)
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!Signifying:
Christian Fish
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!!Signifying:
Christian Aquarium
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!!!Canadian Signifying:
Jack and Jacques
discuss English vs. French
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Reference
Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen.
Vocabulary Plus High School and Up: A
Source Based Approach. Boston, MA:
Parson/Allyn & Bacon, 2004.
www.ablongman.com/nilsen
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