Metaphors - Searching

Metaphor of the day: search

Posted by Macmillan Dictionary on April 12, 2011

Metaphors for searching

Searching for something is like hunting an animal, or like one animal hunting another.

• I’ve been hunting for that book all day.
• The detectives were on their trail at once.
• They managed to track down his childhood friends.
• She was being hounded by photographers.

Searching and discovering information is like finding it by digging or searching in the ground.

• Let me know if you dig up/turn up anything about him.
• I unearthed some useful facts and figures.
• The facts only came to light after a long investigation.
• We left no stone unturned in our search for the truth.

For more metaphor examples, see the ‘hunting and digging metaphors‘ in Macmillan Dictionary.

Source: http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/metaphor-of-the-day-search