أَوِ اصْطِلَاحٍ خَاصٍّ
Or through a particular professional or learned convention.
A group trained in a particular discipline may recognize a resemblance immediately even if a general audience does not. For that audience the metaphor can be clear because the specialized association is already understood.
Therefore, rarity alone does not settle the quality of an image. What matters is the intended audience: an expression lucid among specialists can become obscure and ineffective when used without explanation before people outside that tradition.