What is a life-as-container metaphor?

What is a life-as-container metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which life is represented in terms of a container which can be full or empty with respect to such contents as activities and meaning.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	I've had a full life. Life is empty for him. There's not much leftfor him in life. Her life is crammed with activities.

Generic
	A life-as-container metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for life?

Source
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980

Context for this page:

Concept module: life-as-container metaphor
In modular book: Metaphors in English, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H. Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Lexicon

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 September 1998