In the context of mysticism, the phrase refers metaphorically to the end of ordinary reality and reunion with the Divine.

In contemporary culture, the term sometimes refers inexactly or metaphorically to women who are presumed to wish they were men.

The "destruction of language" (line 15) metaphorically refers to the: a. end of a romance.

Hence, the term may refer metaphorically to several things:

Ezekiel 28 is thought by some to be referring metaphorically to Satan, rather than to the king of Babylon.

Father can also refer metaphorically to a person who is considered the founder of a body of knowledge or of an institution.

Spenser also metaphorically refers to Cape Cod as the Promised Land.

It refers metaphorically to a human corpse as a "sheer hulk".

Film historians refer to cannibalism both literally and metaphorically.

On the one hand, this deer hunt may metaphorically refer to a hunt for human victims.