Simile

A simile (/ˈsɪməli/) is a figure of speech that directly compares two things.^[1][2] Similes differ from metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than",^[3] while metaphors create an implicit comparison (i.e. saying something "is" something else).^[1][4] This distinction is evident in the etymology of the words: simile derives from the Latin word similis ("similar, like"), while metaphor derives from the Greek word metapherein ("to transfer").^[5] As in the case of metaphors, the thing that is being compared is called the tenor, and the thing it is being compared to is called the vehicle.^[6] Author and lexicographer Frank J. Wilstach compiled a dictionary of similes in 1916, with a second edition in 1924.