There is no way of judging accurately without context. Perhaps it means 'I am not sentient'.

It is a metaphor -- two metaphors, in fact. (Note the spelling metaphor .) It doesn't make sense out of context, of course, but in the right context it could be meaningful. CJ

a debenture is one of those clever 'derivative' loans, which have to be repaid. sometimes the borrower who issues the loan (like AIG) hasn't the quality they were meant to have and have more dubious integrity than joe public 'used

Shanoorsa, I would say the second sentence is perfectly acceptable grammatically and may even be preferred contextually. Have a look at Gleb's excellent comment on narrative structure and the effect of putting the active ingredient of the

Take them on a trip (for a trip) could be literal in another context. Here it's a metaphor with feast used quite generously for the other senses as well as taste. I'm currently reading a book that your post reminds me of: The School

The short answer to your question is no. The word "imbued" is not used in everyday language, and is probably inappropriate in the given context, even if intended metaphorically. It means "saturated", and your example would mean

I think just about anything can be used metaphorically, although I don't know if I've ever heard it used that way or used it that way myself. I would understand the word to mean "just a little" in any context, however:

real is "not artificial". true is "not false". your true face takes face as metaphoric for character. It suggests that a person's character has been revealed to be other than what it appeared to be previously. The truth

What does the last sentence mean? What the metaphor "zombie" implies? What about "vital"? In this context the author is using "zombies" to refer to companies that would fail or declare bankruptcy except for taxpayer

Just a guess, but I'd take it in a golfing context. (Don't bankers spend their days golfing, anyway? I mean, especially since they've received all this bailout money?) How about a mixed metaphor? When your ball ends up in the weeds, it