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GRAMMAR.
Simile.--In order to describe some relation that cannot be seen, e.g. the relation between a ship and the water, as regards the action of the former upon the latter, to a landsman who had never seen the sea or a ship, we might say, "The ship acts upon the water as a plough turns up the land." In other words, "The relation between the ship and the sea is similar to the relation between the plough and the land." This sentence expresses a similarity of relations, and is called a simile. It is frequently expressed thus: "As the plough turns up the land, so the ship acts on the sea." Def. A Simile is a sentence expressing a similarity of relations. Consequently a simile is a kind of rhetorical proportion, and must, when fully expressed, contain four terms: A : B :: C : D.
A Shakespearean Grammar. Edwin Abbott Abbott. London and New York. Macmillan and Company. 1870.
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