Figurative language is a way of saying something that is different from a literal expression. Thus if you were to say, "He eats like a horse," you would not mean that he literally eats like a horse. You are using a FIGURATIVE way of expressing your idea. It's emphatic. It's an attention grabber. It's different. People listen. There are many ways to express yourself figuratively in language. The following methods are among the most common:

	Apostrophe		Metonymy
	Chiamus		Simile
	Hyperbole		Synecdoche
	Metaphor		Zeugma