Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)
Studies - Edit Gaál: Dictionaries and methaphors: a consideration of the presentation of methaphoric usages in a selection of dictonaries
defined in COD: (si) first rate specimen of anything or in AHD: Slang. One that is deemed excellent or notable. We have the additional knowledge about this flower that it grows in short grass, and as such, it is below our eyesight. (Very interestingly this piece of knowledge is recorded in a metaphorical way in the etymology of the word form: AHD: Middle English daisie , from Old English d?ges Jage: d?ges, genitive of d?g , day; see agh- below + w Jage , eye; see ok - below.) But in spite of its position, this small flower strikes the eye as something outstanding with its yellow disc and white rays against the green background of the grass. Among the selected body parts the word 'shoulder' has the most, three metaphorical usages recorded. In COD it is defined as ' (fig.) body regarded as bearing burden, blame ' and 'part of mountain, bottle, tool, etc., projecting like human shoulder '. LDCE records a usage as a verb: 'accept (a heavy responsibility, duty, etc.,) '. In the case of the usage referring to the body regarded as bearing burden, it is extremely difficult to distinguish the metaphoric and metonymic usages. But obviously one characteristic taken into consideration with these usages is based on the common knowledge that the size of the shoulders directly refers to the physical capacity, and consequently to the psychical capacity of a person. The other is the shape of the given part of the human body that is visually significant and memorable. 'Lung' has two metaphoric usages: 'Good lungs - ability to use exhaled air to produce strong voice ' and 'Lungs of London etc. - parks and open spaces in or close to great city' (COD). Both refer to a large amount of air for different purposes. In the semantic field of animals 'duck' has the following usages recorded in COD: 'ducks (colloq.) darling, attractive thing; duck's egg (cricket ) batsman's score of 0' and LDCE focuses on the verbal metaphorical usages: 'to push under water' and 'to try to avoid difficulty or unpleasant duty'. A duck, wild or domestic, is a bird we have extensive knowledge about; we know about its habits, habitat and value. The definitions of usages of 'lion is summarised well in AHD: 'a. A very brave person, b. A person regarded as fierce or ferocious. C. An eminent person'. They also clearly explain the minor characteristics we take as the ground in a metaphor. 7 Conclusion From all this it can be concluded that the extent of the meaning of a word plays a decisive role in the number of metaphorical usages recorded. What minor charateristics are selected, or what additional knowledge is considered, to function as the ground of a metaphor mostly depends on the 110
