address some basic questions about figurative language in general, and about metaphor in particular / examine what it is that makes a string of words a metaphor, how metaphors are understood, and how and why metaphors are used in discourse instead of "words proper" / consider the relationship between metaphor on the one hand and polysemy [multiple meanings] and lexical innovations on the other, with the purpose of elucidating some of the processes underlying sense extensions and sense creation (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)