Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
FROZEN FIGURES
(sometimes called dead or tired metaphors) are metaphors, similes, and other figure(s) of speech whose comparisons are lost or unclear because our knowledge of at least one part of the comparison has deteriorated or vanished. For example, mad as a hatter makes no sense today to anyone who doesn’t know that hatters once frequently displayed symptoms of St. Vitus’ dance and other irrational behavior as a result of poisoning by the mercurous oxides they used in making felt hats. It’s a metaphor that’s nearly dead today, a frozen figure.
