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My partner and I were discussing rearranging our bedroom. He said that moving the bed would be "a big lift".
The conversation continued and he referred to "a big lift" as an idiom. I replied that the phrase is a metaphor for weightlifting.
Much like this "rain check" question already posed, can a phrase be both a metaphor and an idiom? Specifically, is the phrase "a big lift" a metaphor? Is it an idiom?
It's neither.
'a big lift' is just standard speech.
A metaphor is defined as:
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
a big lift does not fit here because it is literally applicable -- moving the bed will presumably be a big lift.
An idiom is defined as:
A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words
Definitely not this - the meaning is indeed deducible from the context.
I say it's standard speech. Highlighting the aforementioned phrase- Moving the bed will be a big lift, you can just see that it's a statement where the adjective big just describes the action of the lift.
If you were talking about weightlifting as a sport, it would be an idiom, as John Lawler has pointed out. But out of that context, it's just plain English.
Hope this helps!
BIG predicate works in modifying the noun lift. Big things are heavier, after all.
Mar 26, 2019 at 20:48
A "metaphor" is a word or phrase (not necessarily common -- could be an ad-hoc invention) which somehow parallels the concept being described, like "nerves of steel".
An "idiom" is a (relatively) common phrase with a generally accepted meaning. It is not necessarily metaphorical.
Something can be both a metaphor and an idiom, one and not the other, or neither.
"A big lift", in the above example, is not distinctly either one (since it's not terribly common in the context given, and it's not particularly figurative). But it does have a slight flavor of both, especially if the reference is understood to be weightlifting.
