In this paper the author offers an interpretation of the word acerbus, in literary texts and metrical inscriptions (where a specialized meaning for premature death is always found), according to the Metaphor Contemporary Theory (MCT). The study of acerbus within the frame of MCT allows us to propose a satisfactory translation of this difficult term, in both literary and epigraphic texts. Finally, the comparative study of acerbus in literature and in the Carmina Latina Epigraphica gives us strong arguments to clarify the interesting subject of loci similes in both kind of texts.