What is a conceited-person-as-big metaphor?

What is a conceited-person-as-big metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which a conceited person is represented as being of greater than normal size, and which may be based partly on the behavior of the conceited person in thrusting out the chest.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	He's big as you please. He got a big head after winning the race. She has a swollen opinion of herself. She's had a swelled head ever since she got her Ph.D.

Generic
	A conceited-person-as-big metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for conceit?

Source
	Kovecses 1986

Context for this page:

Concept module: conceited-person-as-big 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