A close study of dead metaphors in Moby Dick shows that their status is, in fact, subject to change and may be reversed. The context sometimes resuscitates the creative energy of the clichés, requiring an indepth reading of the text, where literal and figurative meanings are not contradictory but complementary. Neither a word-for-word translation nor equivalents will make it possible for those so-called "dead metaphors" to survive in the target language. Moreover, this great source of difficulty for the translator cannot be ignored as these figures play an essential part in the language of the novel which, by refusing the dichotomy signifier/ signified, endeavours to express a world that lurks beyond words, between reality and illusion.