Metaphors used about someone perceived to be very smart might include:

[Name is] a real brain surgeon (provided [Name] isn't a real brain surgeon)

[Name is] a genuine rocket scientist (provided [Name] isn't a genuine rocket scientist)

[Name is] a total Einstein

[Name's] brain's an Apple Mac

[Name's] mind is Intel enhanced (provided the person saying this isn't someone who believes the 'Intel Inside' label is known to technicians as the 'Warning Sticker')

You might also want similes about someone who is very smart? There are quite a few, including:

[Name is] a smart cookie

[Name is] so sharp they'll cut themselves

And, all beginning with As…, as in '[Name] is as…

…bright as a button

…bright as a lightbulb

…clever as [name of someone famous for being very clever] - Einstein, and so on

…clever as a cartload [US: wagonload] of monkeys

…clever as a fox

…cute as a fox

…sharp as a [very sharp thing] - tack, razor, or other sharp instrument

…smart as [name of someone famous for being smart] - Einstein, and so on

…smart as a whip

These could all lose the 'As…', and be expressed '[Name is] bright like a lightbulb'; '[Name is] cute like a fox', and so on.

A metaphor. Examples of metaphors are: "At night the sea is a black abyss that stretches on through eternity."

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun."

In contrast, a simile is a comparison that uses "like" or "as." A metaphor states that Thing 1 IS Thing 2. A simile merely states that Thing 1 is similar or the same as Thing 2.

Examples of similes are: "Her contemptuous laughter washed over him like a bucket of freezing water."

"He opened his eyes to see her face looming above him in the darkness, as luminous and radiant as the moon hanging in the night sky outside."

metaphor

if it has like in its a simile!!

A SIMILE is a phrase that describes something in comparison to the characteristics of something else, usually using the words like or as.

Some examples:

He is as sneaky as a weasel.

A book is like a good meal.

Her teeth are like pearls.

A METAPHOR directly compares two things which may be quite different, because one has a characteristic that is similar to the other. It usually uses linking verbs such as is, are, was or were.

Some examples:

That guy is such a snake in the grass.

Her eyes were glowing coals.

That linebacker is a mountain.

Use of metaphors in the English language is so common that we rarely realise they are being used.

A metaphor is: a descriptive term (a word or expression) applied to an object or action, but the description itself is not literally applicable to the thing being described.

(Note: A metaphor is not to be confused with a simile. A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the words 'like' or 'as', for example 'as cold as ice'.)

The word metaphor has Latin origins, and means 'carry across, transfer'. A metaphor carries across or transfers the meaning from one situation and applies it to another.

AN EXAMPLE OF A METAPHOR

Someone might refer to 'a glaring error', but errors aren't literally 'glaring', because the word glaring in its literal sense means 'gleaming/shining fiercely/brightly in an uncomfortable way', such as the 'glare of the sun', or 'I was blinded by the glare of the headlights of the oncoming vehicles.' Applying the metaphor 'glaring' to an error means that the error is clearly evident.

IDENTIFYING METAPHORS

To identify metaphors when reading passages, first look for a term that describes something, then see if that term has a more literal meaning, one that is not usually used with reference to the word or situation currently being described. If you can find one, it is probably a metaphor.

Some examples:

he spoke cold words of little comfort

a gene map

a sad willow tree

primordial soup

to bailout the banks

road map to peace

toxic assets

"My new motor bike cost me an arm and a leg, but hey, you should see her fly!"

Metaphoric prose:"The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on."

From the Fog by Carl Sandburg

A SIMILE is a phrase that describes something in comparison to the characteristics of something else, using the words as or like.

Examples: Her hands were as cold as ice. His beard was like sandpaper.

A METAPHOR directly compares two things, which may be quite different, because one has a characteristic that is similar to the other.

Examples: All the world is a stage. The inside of the car was a furnace. His memory of the event was foggy.

Sometimes metaphors compare actions and adjectives by their effect.

Examples : He was boiling mad. You are the sunshine of my life. The truth was hard to swallow.

In many cases, a metaphor is an idiomatic expression when it suggests an improbable action, e.g It was raining cats and dogs. He was rolling in dough.