Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

metaphor

metaphor (met"ȧ*fôr` or met"ȧ*fẽr) , noun

[French métaphore, Latin metaphora, from Greek metafora`, from metafe`rein to carry over, transfer; meta` beyond, over + fe`rein to bring, bear.]

(Rhetoric) The transference of the relation between one set of objects to another set for the purpose of brief explanation; a compressed simile; e. g., the ship plows the sea. — Shakespeare
All the world's a stage. — Abbott & Seeley

The statement, “that man is a fox,” is a metaphor; but “that man is like a fox,” is a simile, similitude, or comparison.