  Figurative language is a challenge for language models since its
interpretation is based on the use of words in a way that deviates from their
conventional order and meaning. Yet, humans can easily understand and interpret
metaphors, similes or idioms as they can be derived from embodied metaphors.
Language is a proxy for embodiment and if a metaphor is conventional and
lexicalised, it becomes easier for a system without a body to make sense of
embodied concepts. Yet, the intricate relation between embodiment and features
such as concreteness or age of acquisition has not been studied in the context
of figurative language interpretation concerning language models. Hence, the
presented study shows how larger language models perform better at interpreting
metaphoric sentences when the action of the metaphorical sentence is more
embodied. The analysis rules out multicollinearity with other features (e.g.
word length or concreteness) and provides initial evidence that larger language
models conceptualise embodied concepts to a degree that facilitates figurative
language understanding.
