My overall goal in this paper is to introduce the notion of metaphor to non-specialist students and the general reader. I try to accomplish this by setting three specific goals: (i) to offer a brief characterization of metaphor; (ii) to delineate metaphor from metonymy; and (iii) to show some of the ways in which metaphors can be classified. The general frame of reference that I use is that of cognitive linguistics, as it has been developed in the past twenty-five years by such figures as George Lakoff and Ronald Langacker. (Zoltán Kövecses)