This research is a corpus-based exploration of the metaphorical meanings of elkwul ``face`` in Korean from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. It first discusses the frequency of elkwul in the corpus in terms of types of modifiers. It also characterizes meanings of elkwul in five categories. Second, among various meanings elkwul, this study focuses on the metonymical and metaphorical uses of elkwul, examining nouns which coocuur with elkwul. Third, this research investigates metaphorical extension of the meanings of elkwul, showing that such extension is based on metaphorical schemas of a face as a body part, showing the embodied nature of language. Finally, this research proposes that a corpus-based cognitive approach is useful in characterizing the metaphorical extension of the meanings of body-part terms in Korean.