What is a mind-as-container metaphor?

What is a mind-as-container metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which the mind is represented as a container for such objects as ideas.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	What do you have in mind? His thoughts turned inward. It's been in the back of my mind.

Generic
	A mind-as-container metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for mind?

Sources
	Lakoff, G. 1987

Context for this page:

Concept module: mind-as-container metaphor
In modular book: Metaphors in English, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H. Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Lexicon

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 September 1998