An important rhetorical figure has been called the majāz ῾aqlī (lit. “intellectual trope”) by some classical rhetoricians, mainly by ῾Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī (d. 471/1078). Despite its importance, which will be clarified below, the intellectual trope has been ignored in modern research in comparison to other rhetorical figures such as the metaphor and simile which are frequently in the spotlight. In this paper, I will analyse the notion of the majāz ῾aqlī as used by ῾Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī who was the first rhetorician to deal with this figure of speech in detail; then I will discuss its semantic aspects in classical Arabic poetry as manifested in an episode on wine composed by Abū Dhu᾿ayb al- Hudhalī (d. 28/649).