Originally Posted by wilbjammin

metaphor n.
the application of a name or descriptive term or phrase to an object or action to which it is imaginatively but not literally applicable (e.g., killing him with kindness).
(From The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English in English Dictionaries & Thesauruses)

simile n.
an explicit comparison between two different things, actions, or feelings, using the words ‘as’ or ‘like’, as in Wordsworth's line:I wandered lonely as a cloud / A very common figure of speech in both prose and verse, simile is more tentative and ...
(From The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms in Literature)