Metaphor has been shown to exert an important influence
upon the development of language (Muller, 1897); as meaning
is transferred from one situation to another, new words
and meanings being created as root meanings are used
metaphorically to capture new applications. This is well illustrated,
for example, in the history of the word "organization."
The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that before
1873 the term "organization" was primarily used to describe
the action of organizing or the state of being organized,
particularly in a biological sense.