red rag to a bull

en-noun

red rag to a bull (plural red rags to a bull or red rags to bulls)

red rags to a bull (plural)
red rags to bulls (plural)

Possibly refers to the red cape used by matadors in bullfighting.

Simply mentioning the word "nationalism" to him is like a red rag to a bull.

This was a red rag to the bull. He raged and stormed so (he was crossing the river at the time) that I judge it made him blind, because he ran over the steering-oar of a trading-scow.

1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 6, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:

Any suspicion of impropriety was to Elizabeth-Jane like a red rag to a bull.

1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXX, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:

He did not say that he had been visiting among his neighbours; this to Pryer would have been like a red rag to a bull.

1873–1884 (date written), Samuel Butler, edited by R[ichard] A[lexander] Streatfeild, The Way of All Flesh, London: Grant Richards, published 1903, →OCLC:

The rolling around and screams of anguish from Porro though were like a red rag to a bull for the Scotland support, who howled and harangued his every touch before he was withdrawn at the interval, presumably for his own safety.

2023 March 28, Graeme McGarry, “Scott McTominay earns place in history as Scotland stun Spain”, in The Herald:

Something that will enrage another particular person.


sharp as a tack

When Mum died at ninety she was still as sharp as a tack. Everything else wore out.

1999, Tina Koch et al., Still Me, Wakefield Press, page 148:

But Ophelia was smart. Sharp as a tack. Everybody in the firm knew it.

2005, David E. Talbert, Love on the Dotted Line, page 12:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, national infectious disease guru, is five months my senior, sharp as a tack even under withering political fire;

2021 May 17, Jane E. Brody, “A Birthday Milestone: Turning 80!”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


cheap like borscht

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cheap like borscht.wav

Calque of Yiddish ביליק ווי באָרשט (bilik vi borsht), as the beets used to make it were among the cheapest vegetables.

calque

ביליק ווי באָרשט

(Canada, informal, simile) Very inexpensive.


fresh fucked fox in a forest fire

a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire (canonical)

en-us-hotter than a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire.ogg

En-au-fresh fucked fox in a forest fire.ogg

"Has probably existed since late 19th century", according to E. Partridge, with later (c.1920) variation including "worried as a pregnant fox in a forest fire".

(slang, vulgar, chiefly Southern US) Something which is extremely hot, in any sense.


deaf as a doorpost

And grandmother sat in her rocker before the fireplace, deaf as a doorpost and half-blind as well.

2003, David Farland, The Lair of Bones, Macmillan, page 203:

(simile) Stone deaf. (unable to hear at all)


thick as two short planks

en-adj

thick as two short planks (not comparable)

“I dunno. He’s thick as two short planks of wood, but his six brothers are all banged up in here, so he’s got eyes and ears all over the prison. Auntie Flip better watch out.”

2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:


easy as falling off a log

easy as falling off a log (comparative easier than falling off a log, superlative)

easier than falling off a log (comparative)
easy as rolling off a log (alternative)

For me, making a meal out of leftovers is as easy as falling off a log.


as fuck

It was hot as fuck outside today.

I'm over here stroking my dick. I got lotion on my dick right now. I'm just stroking my shit. I'm horny as fuck man I'm a freak man like for real.

2020, AisStunna, 0:18 from the start, in TOP Stunna Boy Instagram (pedo) Moments:

(postpositive, slang, vulgar, simile) To a great extent or degree; very, extremely, incredibly.


toey as a Roman sandal

Open-toed sandals were worn in Ancient Rome.

2003 November 14, “TUGBOAT”, post to the topic Front-yard frolics upset neighbours, HAHA only in qld,
Old man can't get it up, can't afford the big V on the pension, toey as a roman sandal, sees a couple going for it on the front lawn, takes it as a personal insult "in your face gramps" then calls the LEO's in to break it up.

He looked at these girls and said, “Those bastards over there are racing and I'm stuck in this stupid thing, and God, I'm as toey as a Roman sandal, and gee, you chicks are looking all right.” Needless to say, he went off with one of the girls and didn′t come back.

2006, Patrick Lindsay, Heart of a Champion: The Greg Welch Story, unnumbered page:

‘I’ve got to tell you, twenty-four hours of abstinence and I’m toey as a Roman sandal.’

2006, Leigh Redhead, Rubdown, published 2007:

(Australia, simile, informal) Extremely anxious for sex.


sound as a bell

He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks, his tongue speaks.

1600, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act III, scene 2:

(simile, colloquial) In excellent condition.


better than sex

It's insane the way people compare everything to sex. For years now, Arnold Schwarzenegger has made the talk-show rounds telling audiences that pumping iron is better than sex. No wonder it took him so long to find a bride.

1987 September, Robert McKay, “The National Standard”, in Cincinnati Magazine, page 104:

In the second generation, Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina developed NCSA Mosaic at the University of Illinois. Several million then suddenly noticed that the Web might be better than sex.

1995 August 21, Robert Metcalfe, “Microsoft and Netscape open some new fronts in escalating Web Wars”, in InfoWorld, volume 17, number 34, page 35:

I mean, Madonna says they [Manolos] are better than sex and Suzy Menkes marvels at the way no one but Manolo can build so much sexual arousal into a sliver of suede.

(idiomatic, simile) Superlative; wonderful.


tight as a tick

For there ain't no kick
Getting tight as a tick
When you know that you're not breaking the law

1933, Irving Berlin, “Eighteenth Amen Repealed”, in The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, page 290:

"Son, excuse me, but the woman was as tight as a tick, as my grannie used to say. The reason I didn't work on that car of hers is because the one time I did, I charged her a hundred forty-four dollars for a battery, which as you know is the cost to me. She said I was gouging her."

2003, Anna Quindlen, Blessings: a Novel, page 215:

The last time she had visited, Sean's father, Tiny Tim, who was tight as a tick with his money, jovially presided over the place, one big yard filled with rusting cars.

2003, Rita Mae Brown, Catch as Cat Can, page 20:

(slang, simile) Unwilling to spend money.


smell like a rose

en-verb

smell like a rose (third-person singular simple present smells like a rose, present participle smelling like a rose, simple past and past participle smelt like a rose or smelled like a rose)

smells like a rose (present singular third-person)
smelling like a rose (participle present)
smelt like a rose (participle past)
smelt like a rose (past)
smelled like a rose (participle past)
smelled like a rose (past)
come out smelling like a rose (alternative)
come out smelling of roses (alternative)
come up smelling like a rose (alternative)
come up smelling of roses (alternative)

come out smelling like a rose

"I don't suppose anyone from the director down will come out of this deal smelling like a rose," the warden commented, "but our only hope is that some good will result from the hearing."

1953 November 22, “Prison is quiet after hearing”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, USA, retrieved 2009-08-04, page 22:

But compared to others, Dent came out of the Depression "smelling like a rose." He later boasted that he made $18,000 a year with his writing during the Depression.

1990, Marilyn Cannaday, Bigger than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage, →ISBN, page 28:

The champion of corporate governance should smell like a rose. Instead, there's an unpleasant whiff of pork-barrel politics rising from the board.

2002 June 24, Christopher Palmeri, “Can CalPERS Afford to Throw Stones?”, in BusinessWeek, retrieved 2009-08-04:

(idiomatic, colloquial, simile) To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed.

a rose by any other name would smell as sweet


like a train

I could not get a shot in. They turned in my direction and came like a train. I stopped the first and the others spilled round him at a frightful speed. I was in the eddy of the first beast, as it were. I got in another shot at an angle behind the ear and down he went.

1949, Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell, Karamojo safari, page 85:

"That tide's coming in like a train, and if the Raider breaks up, the currents will drag them under!" Her voice was desperate. "I don't see 'ow anyone can get to them!" It was true.

1994, Sheila Garrigue, The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito, →ISBN, page 17:

Aspinall was suspended for the first three games but we started like a train. We took ten points from the first twelve, beating Leeds 4—0 at home with Hilaire and Blake coming back, and we went to the top of the league.

2005, Alan Ball, Playing Extra Time, →ISBN, page 221:


as the day is long

He shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

And you shall do nothing but what you choose, and shall be as happy as the day is long.

1851 April 9, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields:

They are quiet, peaceable, tractable, free from drunkenness, and they are as industrious as the day is long.

1872, Mark Twain, chapter 54, in Roughing It:

"Oh, I don't think they would steal the box. Bart Andrews and Jack Thompson are as honest as the day is long."

1906, Horatio Alger, chapter 4, in Joe The Hotel Boy:

Monica: Alright, wait a second! Why would Ross tell everyone in your class that you are "as gay as the day is long"?

2003, Brian Buckner and Sebastian Jones, Friends, season 9, ep. 17 The One with the Memorial Service

"He is direct, honest as the day is long, hard-working and a good lad to have around."

2004 October 16, G. Caulkin, B. Glanville, “Souness eyes move to take Duff back on board”, in Times Online, UK, retrieved 2009-09-06:

(idiomatic, intensifier, simile) Unceasingly; very; thoroughly; to a very high degree.


off like a prom dress

Pun on two senses of off, with the implication that a couple at a prom are likely to have sexual intercourse. Compare off like a bride's nightie.

When we heard the police car pull up, we were off like a prom dress.

(simile, slang, Canada, US) Making a start, or departing, very rapidly.


cold as a witch's tit

Apparently coined by the American author Francis Van Wyck Mason: the term first appears in his Novel Spider House, published in 1932.

cold as a witch's teat (alternative)
cold as a witch's tit in a brass bra (alternative)

(simile, colloquial, vulgar, humorous) Very cold.


squeal like a stuck pig

squeal like a stuck pig (third-person singular simple present squeals like a stuck pig, present participle squealing like a stuck pig, simple past and past participle squealed like a stuck pig)

squeals like a stuck pig (present singular third-person)
squealing like a stuck pig (participle present)
squealed like a stuck pig (participle past)
squealed like a stuck pig (past)

(simile) To utter loud, high-pitched squeals.


like the clappers

Partridge says: "Possibly rhyming slang for 'clappers of a bell', 'hell'."

After hurling their insults, they ran like the clappers to get away.

And when it started off they first studied them, and of course they went like the clappers to prove what they could do, which was the thing they shouldn't be doing because it was a study, and of course, they've got to work like the clappers all the time once it came into operation.

1998, Diana Gittins, Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, 1913-1997:

We've gone through regional and rural Australia like the clappers, and everywhere we went, irate voters shouted at us and we stuck our heads out the windows and shouted: "What?" and the electorate respected us for it.

In fact she made quite a nice little rider — a bit rough, like these Australians always were, but quite secure in her seat and going like the clappers.

2006, Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the Dark:

(simile, UK, informal) Very hard or very rapidly.


like turkeys voting for Christmas

En-au-like turkeys voting for Christmas.ogg

Because turkeys are commonly eaten at Christmas, turkeys voting for (an early) Christmas would be hastening their own death. The phrase is thought to have been coined by the British Liberal Party politician David Penhaligon (1944–1986) who used it to express opposition to the 1977 Lib–Lab pact. It was popularized by the British Prime Minister James Callaghan (1912–2005) who used it in the House of Commons in March 1979 when his Labour Party lost a vote of no confidence: see the 1977 and 1979 quotations.

coinage

a turkey voting for Christmas (alternative)

The next morning [14 December 1977] the Liberals held a two-and-a-half meeting at which Steel let them have their head. Only two MPs, Howells and Johnston, said they were willing to continue the Pact. The opponents were delighted. […] ‘Us voting for the Pact is like a turkey voting for Christmas’, said David Penhaligon

[1977 December 14, Alistair Michie, Simon Hoggart, “The Wispy Beards Strike Back”, in The Pact: The Inside Story of the Lib-Lab Government, 1977–8, London: Quartet Books, published 1978, →ISBN, page 156:

The minority parties have walked into a trap. If they win, there will be a general election. I am told that the current joke going around the House is that it is the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas.

[1979 March 28, James Callaghan, Prime Minister, “Her Majesty’s Government (Opposition Motion)”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 965, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2022-12-07, column 471:

Many of the responses to proposals, particularly regarding deregulation, were unsupported: it would have been like turkeys voting for Christmas in some respects.

1998, Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, “Conclusions”, in Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, editors, Urban Planning and the British New Right, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 247:

Bear in mind, however, that for some purchasing people, deciding to use an agent is a little like turkeys voting for Christmas.

2001, Trevor Kitching, “The Internet – the New Frontier for Scam Merchants”, in Purchasing Scams and How to Avoid Them, Aldershot, Hampshire, Burlington, Vt.: Gower Publishing, →ISBN, page 90:

The anti-divorce rallying cry of Fine Gael’s Alice Glenn, ‘Women voting for divorce is like turkeys voting for Christmas’, captured the sense of fear felt by many at the economic consequences of divorce for women.

2002, Frances Gardiner, Mary O’Dowd, “The Women’s Movement and Women Politicians in the Republic of Ireland, 1980–2000: Introduction”, in Angela Bourke et al., editors, The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, volumes V (Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions), New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 233, column 1:

like turkeys voting for an early Christmas

(British, simile, humorous, of an action) Self-defeating; serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer of the action.

James Callaghan
Lib–Lab pact
Oxford University Press

sahata omaa oksaansa

of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer

scier la branche sur laquelle on est assis

肉屋を支持する豚 (nikuya wo shijisuru buta, literally “pigs who support butchers”)

пчёлы про́тив мёда (pčóly prótiv mjóda, literally “bees against honey”)


head

/laɪk ˌtɜːkiz ˈvəʊtɪŋ fɚ‿n̩ ˌɜːli ˈkɹɪsməs/

/laɪk ˌtɝkiz ˈvoʊtɪŋ fɚ‿n̩ ˌɝli ˈkɹɪsməs/

En-au-like turkeys voting for an early Christmas.ogg

like turkeys voting for Christmas#English

(British, simile, humorous) Synonym of like turkeys voting for Christmas


as much use as a chocolate fireguard

En-au-as much use as a chocolate fireguard.ogg

Since a chocolate fireguard would melt immediately.


soft as a baby's bottom

en-adj

soft as a baby's bottom (not comparable)

(simile, informal) Extremely soft (not rough).


like a ton of bricks

The Defendant then came down on me like a ton of bricks, as my eye will prove.

Senator Breaux: Did you see this coming on gradually, or did it hit you all of a sudden like a ton of bricks?

2000, United States Senate, The Boomers are Coming: The Challenge of Family Caregiving : Hearing Before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, First Session, Monroe, LA, October 11, 1999, →ISBN, page 34:

“I still feel so bad about that. I fell for you like a ton of bricks when I first saw you onstage with the band.[…]"

2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

(simile, colloquial) Very strongly; very heavily; often unexpectedly.


like a bull in a china shop

like a bull in a china shop (not comparable)

An awkward man in society is like a bull in a china shop, always doing mischief.

1855, Robert De Valcourt, The illustrated manners book: a manual of good behavior and polite, page 89:

(simile) Clumsy, aggressive, without care, concern or self-control.

comme un éléphant dans un magasin de porcelaine

como um elefante em uma loja de cristais

smidig som en elefant i en porslinsbutik

smidig som en elefant i en porslinsaffär


like a bull in a china shop

Some comparisons in general use partake of the humorous and satirical, as when one man is said to comport himself “like a bull in a china shop”.

1869, Every Saturday: a journal of choice reading, page 108:

(simile) Clumsily, aggressively, without care, concern or self-control.


cry like a little girl

en-verb

cry like a little girl (third-person singular simple present cries like a little girl, present participle crying like a little girl, simple past and past participle cried like a little girl)

cries like a little girl (present singular third-person)
crying like a little girl (participle present)
cried like a little girl (participle past)
cried like a little girl (past)

(simile, of an adult or older child) To bawl unabashedly and pitifully.


hung like a donkey

(simile, of a man) Having a large penis.


like a man

From Middle English lyke a man (“in the manner of a man, in accordance with man”).

inh

Don't be a wimp: deal with it like a man!

(colloquial, simile) Bravely, decisively, and without complaining.


memory like a sieve

Charming woman, but with a memory like a sieve. The sort who's always losing one glove at the theatre. Naturally she wouldn't remember a butler's name. She probably thought all along it was Fotheringay or Binks or something. Very common, that sort of mental lapse.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

mind like a sieve
mind like a sieve#English


deaf as a post

(simile) Stone deaf. (unable to hear at all)


tight as Dick's hatband

as tight as Dick's hatband (canonical)
tighter than Dick's hatband (alternative)

(colloquial, now principally US, dated) Very tight, whether:

Very tight, whether:
Very tight-fitting.


go over like a lead balloon

en-verb

go<goes,,went,gone> over like a lead balloon

go over like a lead balloon (third-person singular simple present goes over like a lead balloon, present participle going over like a lead balloon, simple past went over like a lead balloon, past participle gone over like a lead balloon)

goes over like a lead balloon (present singular third-person)
going over like a lead balloon (participle present)
went over like a lead balloon (past)
gone over like a lead balloon (participle past)
go down like a lead balloon (alternative)

Presumably from go over (“to be received”), used as if literally (“to travel above”): a lead balloon would not travel well through the air.

(simile) To fail to gain acceptance: to be received poorly.

пролете́ть, как фане́ра над Пари́жем (proletétʹ, kak fanéra nad Parížem, literally “to fly like plywood over Paris”)


silent as the grave

Perhaps connected to the idea of taking a secret to the grave, or the idea that dead men tell no tales.

The investigation is ongoing, but all the suspects have been silent as the grave so far.

“Livesey,” returned the squire, “you are always in the right of it. I’ll be as silent as the grave.”

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

“Well, then, if you’re bound to go, I’ll tell you the way to do when you get to the village. Shut the door and blindfold the doctor tight and fast, and make him swear to be silent as the grave, and put a purse full of gold in his hand, […]

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XL, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

(idiomatic, simile, of a person) Saying absolutely nothing (especially about a particular subject).

нем, как ры́ба (nem, kak rýba, literally “silent like a fish”)

молчать, как пле́нный партиза́н (molčatʹ, kak plénnyj partizán, literally “be silent like a captured partisan”)

The abandoned village is silent as the grave.

(idiomatic, simile, of a place) Deathly still and silent.


bold as brass

Popularly supposed to have originated in reference to Brass Crosby, Lord Mayor of London in the 1770s, who was bold enough to defy the British parliament. However, this origin theory is dismissed by some as bogus.

The twins were now playing in the most approved brotherly fashion till at last Master Jacky who was really as bold as brass there was no getting behind that deliberately kicked the ball as hard as ever he could down towards the seaweedy rocks.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

Well, she schlumphed her Vera down the screech at a rate of knots, zhooshed up the riah, checked the slap in the mirror behind the bar, straightened up one ogle fake riah that had come adrift, and bold as brass orderlied over as fast as she could manage in those bats and, in her best lips, asked, if she could parker the omi a bevvy.

1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 123:

In true Victorian bold-as-brass fashion, passengers often travelled across structures built to span ravines and valleys and bodies of fast-moving water, even as debates rolled on into the safety and suitability of materials used.

2021 March 24, Dr. Joseph Brennan, “Metallic marvels from rail's Iron Age”, in RAIL, number 927, page 57:

“Angie was American, she was tall, cool and as bold as brass,” recalls Ronson. “I couldn’t believe how amazing she was.”

2024 April 2, Sarfraz Manzoor, quoting Suzi Ronson, “‘Bowie said he’d sell his soul to be famous’: Suzi Ronson on sex, ruthless ambition – and dyeing David’s hair red”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(simile) Very bold; very forward or impudent.


plain as a pikestaff

The word "pikestaff" in this expression is a corruption of packstaff (“the staff used to carry a bundle over the shoulder”).

―Don't you know he's dead? says Joe. / ―Paddy Dignam dead! says Alf. / ―Ay, says Joe. / ―Sure I'm after seeing him not five minutes ago, says Alf, as plain as a pikestaff. / ―Who's dead? says Bob Doran. / ―You saw his ghost then, says Joe, God between us and harm.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:


like one's life depended on it

En-au-like one's life depended on it.ogg

With Carlos Tevez chasing down every lost cause like his life depended on it, City always had an out ball but Arsenal had such a monopoly on possession that they barely had to give thought even to the Argentine.

2011 January 5, Jonathan Stevenson, “Arsenal 0 - 0 Man City”, in BBC:


work like a horse

work like a horse (third-person singular simple present works like a horse, present participle working like a horse, simple past and past participle worked like a horse)

works like a horse (present singular third-person)
working like a horse (participle present)
worked like a horse (participle past)
worked like a horse (past)

(simile, idiomatic, informal) To work very hard; to toil.


as much use as a chocolate teapot

En-au-as much use as a chocolate teapot.ogg


life is like a box of chocolates

En-au-life is like a box of chocolates.ogg

Appeared in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, when the lead character Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks) says “My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

(simile) Life is full of surprises; you never know what will happen next.


fly like a rock

fly like a rock (third-person singular simple present flies like a rock, present participle flying like a rock, simple past flew like a rock, past participle flown like a rock)

flies like a rock (present singular third-person)
flying like a rock (participle present)
flew like a rock (past)
flown like a rock (participle past)

If the wings aren't big enough, your paper airplane will fly like a rock.

When students have compared the wing areas and weights by squaring and cubing the linear ratios, they correctly predict the large one will fly "like a rock"...

1970, American Association of Physics Teachers, The Physics Teacher, volumes 8–9, page 541:

(simile, sometimes sarcastic) to travel through the air with little or no benefit from aerodynamic lift


white as driven snow

According to Gary Martin, the term refers to "snow that has blown into drifts and is untrodden and clean" and is recorded as early as 1611.

(simile) extremely white; totally white (of a color).


sick as a parrot

(very disappointed): Apparently of sporting (soccer) origin.

(colloquial, simile) Extremely sick; very ill.

Bridge was over the moon and Terry sick as a parrot as the game ended 4-2 following a late Chelsea penalty.

2010 February 25, Chris Boffey, “John Terry left empty-handed as Wayne Bridge gives him cold shoulder”, in The Guardian:

2010 December 7, Wirral Euro MP is sick as a parrot over England World Cup bid humiliation, Wirral Globe.

2011 July 29, John Walsh, Ingalls awesome but Workington Comets edged out, News & Star,
Team manager Tony Jackson said: “I’m as sick as a parrot as I’ve ever been. There’s no doubt we should have won this one if it hadn’t been for the riders we have who suffered knocks.”

(colloquial, simile, idiomatic, UK) Very disappointed; miserable.


bald as a coot

(simile, informal) Totally bald; without any hair on one's head.


sweet as pie

this woman was a freaking saint. Okay?[…]after a lifetime of being sweet as pie, once Grandpa died, she got kinda ornery.

2013, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight (motion picture), spoken by Jesse (Ethan Hawke):

(simile) Extremely sweet (in the sense of cute, lovely).


clear as a bell

Used in reference to the clarity of a bell's tone.

(simile) Totally clear; distinct and unmistakeable.


dry as a bone

Wrong! When we got there, it was not only cloudy and cold, but dry as a bone!

2022 May 14, Ted C. MacRae, Cupressaceae:


like a charm

The sales pitch worked like a charm.

The Chevy drove like a charm, even with a couple inches of snow on the roads.

2004, Joseph Rocco Cervasio, Bad News on the Doorstep: Inspired by a True Story, page 121:


crazy like a fox

"If old Scraggsy's crazy he's crazy like a fox. What's rilin' him is the knowledge that he's stung to the heart an' can't admit it without at the same time admittin' he'd cooked up a deal to double-cross us. He's just a-bustin' with the thoughts that's accumulatin' inside him."

1911, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 18, in Captain Scraggs or, The Green-Pea Pirates:

Paris Painter Georges Mathieu appears to be crazy like a fox . . . [B]y adroitly publicizing himself, Mathieu has recently become the reigning darling of advance-guard art, has no trouble selling (at prices ranging from $600 to $3,400) pictures that take only from a few minutes to a few hours to paint.

1955 March 7, “Art: The Fox of Paris”, in Time:

Murdoch's bid to get his hands on The Journal may seem foolishly pricey, but he's got his reasons.

2007 May 14, Tom Lowry et al., “Crazy Like A Fox”, in Businessweek, retrieved 2011-07-18:

“He comes off as crazy, but he's crazy like a fox,” Smith said of Arenas last year. “He knows exactly what he's doing all the time.”

2010 December 18, Jonathan Abrams, “With Two Trades, the Magic Bets on the Present”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-07-18:

(simile) Behaving in a foolish, frivolous, or uncomprehending manner as a ruse for concealing clever deeds or deeper intentions.


dumb as a bag of hammers

en-adj

dumb as a bag of hammers (not comparable)

You two are just dumber than a bag of hammers!

Kenny: Yeah. Nothing bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know. / Lee: That's a valuable trait lately. / Kenny: No kidding. But frankly, I think it's because he's dumb as a bag of hammers.

2012 April 24, Telltale Games, The Walking Dead, Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS, Kindle Fire, scene: Greene Family Farm:


dull as dishwater

Modified from dull as ditchwater (1700s) in the first half of the 1900s, perhaps through mispronunciation.

‘My blessed Public must have a pretty girl’s face. Romance isn’t romance, adventure is as dull as dishwater...to my Public...unless, every so often, a face to sink a thousand ships, or is it saps? shows up.’

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 6:

(simile) Boring; ordinary; exceedingly dull.


dull as ditchwater

dull as dishwater
dull as dishwater#English

(simile) Alternative form of dull as dishwater


go down like a lead balloon

en-verb

go<goes,,went,gone> down like a lead balloon

go down like a lead balloon (third-person singular simple present goes down like a lead balloon, present participle going down like a lead balloon, simple past went down like a lead balloon, past participle gone down like a lead balloon)

goes down like a lead balloon (present singular third-person)
going down like a lead balloon (participle present)
went down like a lead balloon (past)
gone down like a lead balloon (participle past)
go over like a lead balloon (alternative)

I thought my idea of a superhero-themed party was a great idea, but it went down like a lead balloon with my friends.

(simile) To be received negatively by others.


odious as a toad

And we have already rendred our irreconcileable Enemy the Duke of Buckingham as odious as a Toad.

1680, The History of the Damnable Popish Plot, in Its Various Branches & Progress:

E'en to a Rat he favour show'd, To some as odious as a toad : To him for bread it often came, ( For kindness can all creatures tame)

1762, Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review - Volume 32, page 494:

How fear, self-condemnation, guilt and joy flushed through her as she hastily pushed Brownfield away; pushed him away as if he were as odious as a toad, as inconsequential as some kind of harmless lizard.

2011, Alice Walker, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, →ISBN:


nice as ninepence

Corruption of nice as ninepins, from the neat and precise ordering of the skittles in the game of ninepins.

She had been mistress of the farm so long that it would be hard for her to play second fiddle, but give her time and she'd be as good as new butter and as nice as ninepence, he said.

1913, Ethel Carnie, Miss Nobody, page 68:


like there is no tomorrow

as if there were no tomorrow
as if there were no tomorrow#English

(idiomatic, simile) Alternative form of as if there were no tomorrow


straight as an arrow

(simile) Very straight; travelling in a very straight trajectory.

droit comme un cierge

very straight; travelling in a very straight trajectory

(simile, by extension) Having no homosexual desires or thoughts; completely heterosexual.


sink like a stone

sink like a stone (third-person singular simple present sinks like a stone, present participle sinking like a stone, simple past sank like a stone, past participle sunk like a stone)

sinks like a stone (present singular third-person)
sinking like a stone (participle present)
sank like a stone (past)
sunk like a stone (participle past)

(simile) To sink immediately, with no chance of floating.

(figurative, simile) To completely fail.


swim like a fish

swim like a fish (third-person singular simple present swims like a fish, present participle swimming like a fish, simple past swam like a fish, past participle swum like a fish)

swims like a fish (present singular third-person)
swimming like a fish (participle present)
swam like a fish (past)
swum like a fish (participle past)


dumb as a box of rocks

The drummer in my friend's band is pretty hot, but he's dumb as a box of rocks. I hear he likes me, and I definitely don't want to date him—but is his stupidity any reason not to simply have sex with him? — Carla, Brooklyn, New York

2001 July, “Tell it to my Heart”, in CMJ New Music Monthly, →ISSN, page 29:


calm as a millpond

(simile, of water) Very calm, not choppy.


bent as a nine-bob note

In pre-decimal English money, a nine-bob (nine-shilling) note would obviously be fraudulent, since there was no such denomination.

(simile, UK, slang) Extremely dishonest or criminally-minded.

(simile, UK, slang) Ostentatiously homosexual.


chirpy as a cricket

A pun based on the two meanings of the word chirpy.

(simile) Very chirpy; full of energy; very energetic.


fit as a butcher's dog

Based on the assumption that a butcher's dog is likely to be well fed because of the ready supply of its master's meat.

This time not only is Gooch as fit as a butcher's dog but England, through their efforts at Headingley and Lord's, are mentally attuned to the process of both winning and, crucially in the second match, not losing.

1991 July 4, Mike Selvey, The Guardian, "Cricket: England out to make it seventh time lucky"

In my eyes, Nick Nairn is still in his early 20s, invincible and as fit as a butcher's dog.

2000 April 16, Nick Nairn, “Sunday Herald”, in Food for Thought:

"I had my midlife crisis at 31 but here I am at 48 and as fit as a butcher's dog," he said.

2010 July 12, “Runner launches Nottinghamshire's first ultra marathon”, in BBC News:

(chiefly British) Very fit; in good shape.


fresh as a daisy

(simile, of someone's appearance) Very fresh; well-rested.


sure as eggs

A shortened form of sure as eggs is eggs.

"Pity for you though, all the same, you could have tried your luck there — she'll open her legs for grammar-school boys, sure as eggs."
 "But if she's not much to look at anyway," I said […]

(simile, colloquial) surely; doubtlessly


walk like an Egyptian

walk like an Egyptian (third-person singular simple present walks like an Egyptian, present participle walking like an Egyptian, simple past and past participle walked like an Egyptian)

walks like an Egyptian (present singular third-person)
walking like an Egyptian (participle present)
walked like an Egyptian (participle past)
walked like an Egyptian (past)

Such figures are sometimes depicted in this pose in ancient Egyptian art.

“Get ready for pharaohs, pyramids and walking like an Egyptian.” He held bent arms in front and behind him. A laugh bubbled through the room as Mac walked back to his desk and found his Egypt teaching plan.

2008, Patricia S. Otto, The Gelidus Factor, page 28:

(simile, humorous) To walk with one arm horizontally at the side, with arm bent at the elbow facing up, and the other arm horizontally at the side with arm bent at the elbow facing down.


hungry as a hog

Well, I asked for something to eat
I’m hungry as a hog
So I get brown rice, seaweed
And a dirty hot dog


go out like a light

go out like a light (third-person singular simple present goes out like a light, present participle going out like a light, simple past went out like a light, past participle gone out like a light)

goes out like a light (present singular third-person)
going out like a light (participle present)
went out like a light (past)
gone out like a light (participle past)


sleep like a top

sleep like a top (third-person singular simple present sleeps like a top, present participle sleeping like a top, simple past and past participle slept like a top)

sleeps like a top (present singular third-person)
sleeping like a top (participle present)
slept like a top (participle past)
slept like a top (past)

sleep like a log
sleep like a log#English


bigger than life

en-adj

bigger than life (comparative form only)

larger than life
larger than life#English


like a blue-arsed fly

Refers to the frenetic flight of a bluebottle.

He was running around like a blue-arsed fly.

2008, Patrick Burke, An Illiterate Genius, page 277:

(simile) To be frantic, harried or restless


wild as a Tuckernuck steer

wild as a Tuckernuck steer (not comparable)

“Sounds wild as a Tuckernuck steer,” he observed. “What brings Peleg here now, Sister Abby? Thee said his last letter told thee of his fine new job ..."

1939, Enid Johnson, Anne Merriman Peck, Ho for Californy!:

[…] and went hand over hand, a knife in his teeth — wild as a Tuckernuck steer, Fred was — out the line, cut away the lashings, […]

1942, Elizabeth Hollister Frost, This side of land: an island epic, page 89:

"Davy was born as wild as a Tuckernuck steer and time ain't chastened him none."

The shock of the frigid sea made my nerves wild as a Tuckernuck steer. I felt freeze-dried as the icy cold electrified my vitals.

2007, Michael Hite, The Last Boat, →ISBN, page 2:

(rare, US, simile) Wild, reckless, harum-scarum.


like a bump on a log

Jack just sat there like a bump on a log.

(simile) Idly, listlessly, or uselessly.


full as a tick

Then we drank up all the beer, and threw the bottles into the water and fired at them. . . . "Stop ut!" shouted Mulvaney. "Whin you've fired into nothin' as often as me, over a better man than yoursilf, you will not make a mock av thim orders. 'Tis worse than whistlin' the Dead March in barricks. An' you full as a tick, an' the sun cool, an' all an' all!"

1890, Rudyard Kipling, “The Madness of Private Ortheris”, in Indian Tales:

[B]etween that Dutch cattle salesman and the barkeeper and myself, it would have taken a bookkeeper to have kept a check on the drinks we consumed. . . . Well, I took a seat for a shine, and for two hours I sat there as full as a tick, and as dignified as a judge on the bench.

1904, Andy Adams, chapter 5, in A Texas Matchmaker:

Bragg describes his mother Margaret as a girl eating her first hot dog: it "came wrapped in wax paper, the bun warm and soft, the smell of raw onions, spicy meat and chili filling the car, and she rode the rest of the way full as a tick, mustard on her cheeks."

2001 Sep. 2, Robert Morgan, "Down Home" (book review of Ava's Man by Rick Bragg), New York Times (retrieved 10 Dec 2012)

(simile) Engorged with food or drink, especially alcoholic drink.


swear like a sailor

en-verb

swear like a sailor (third-person singular simple present swears like a sailor, present participle swearing like a sailor, simple past swore like a sailor, past participle sworn like a sailor)

swears like a sailor (present singular third-person)
swearing like a sailor (participle present)
swore like a sailor (past)
sworn like a sailor (participle past)

swear like a trooper
swear like a trooper#English

(simile) Synonym of swear like a trooper


fuck like a mink

fuck like a mink (third-person singular simple present fucks like a mink, present participle fucking like a mink, simple past and past participle fucked like a mink)

fucks like a mink (present singular third-person)
fucking like a mink (participle present)
fucked like a mink (participle past)
fucked like a mink (past)
fuck like minks (alternative)

"She's a really sweet girl, kind and honest and decent, and all of her clients tell me that she fucks like a mink."
"With that endorsement and the boots and the whips, maybe I should give her a try."

1979, Warren Murphy, Frank Stevens, Atlantic City, page 209:

"...But, for general info, she'd just as gladly slide a knife in as anything else. Don't let her fool you. On the other hand, she can fuck like a mink. Have fun. I'll take Bambi any day."

“You fuck like a mink,” Eric told me one night in his sister's bedroom. His parents were out of town, and Eric and I had the run of the house.

2011, Carolyn Briggs, Higher Ground: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost:

(simile, vulgar) To have sex with great enthusiasm.


good as one's word

He said he'd pay me back this week, and he was as good as his word.

(simile) Faithful to a promise one has made.


English as apple pie

(UK, simile) Having characteristics considered quintessential to English or British life.


tough as nails

(idiomatic, simile) Having a hard, strong, and determined mindset.


bigger than Ben Hur

A comparison to the extravagance of the 1899 play Ben-Hur. Though the phrase is often erroneously claimed to have been coined in reference to the 1959 film, use of the phrase long predates the film.

150 People, Arabs, Camels, Horses, Donkeys and Goats
The Eighth Wonder of the World
BIGGER THAN “BEN-HUR”

1916, Columbia Theatre advertisement in The Argonaut, Volume 79, No. 2071, page 379

(simile, informal, comical) huge, extravagant.


like shelling peas

Do you know that some people, no matter how much money they have or how far medical techniques improve, will never be able to have children while for others it's like shelling peas?

1996, Stephen Smith, Parentcraft, page 14:

At school he could deliver straight A's like shelling peas.

They just rolled my wicket over and said it was like shelling peas.

2010, Leo McKinstry, Geoff Boycott: A Cricketing Hero, page 43:


ships that pass in the night

en-noun

ships that pass in the night pl (plural only)

From a poetic metaphor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882).

ships in the night (alternative)
ships passing in the night (alternative)
ships that passed in the night (alternative)

[H]e sat down and we got into conversation. There wasn't time to talk much. . . . We got along famously. But—oh, well, it was just another case of ships that pass in the night.

1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 4, in The Girl on the Boat:

We very seldom work together on The Archers, we're rarely in the same episodes, so often we're ships that pass in the night.

1996 January 7, Isabel Wolff, “Arts & Entertainment: How We Met—Charles Collingwood and Judy Bennett”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2013-10-19:

They may have passed each other in the lobby or on the elevator of the building they worked in, but as far as I know, they never had the opportunity to even say hello. They were like two ships that passed in the night.

2008, MaryRose Occhino, The Sign of the Dove, →ISBN, page 135:

At one point, Gerry McIlroy had two jobs, putting in a 100-hour week as a cleaner and barman, while his mother Rosie worked a night shift in a factory. . . . Rosie and Gerry were like ships that passed in the night.

2011 July 15, Kim Bielenberg, "18 holes with the Holywood hero," Independent (Ireland) (retrieved 19 Oct 2013)

(simile) Two or more people who encounter one another in a transitory, incidental manner and whose relationship is without lasting significance; two or more people who almost encounter one another, but do not do so.


know like a book

en-verb

know like a book (third-person singular simple present knows like a book, present participle knowing like a book, simple past knew like a book, past participle known like a book)

knows like a book (present singular third-person)
knowing like a book (participle present)
knew like a book (past)
known like a book (participle past)

"He's a bad man, that John Mason, and my advice to you and to every one, is to keep clear of him. I know him like a book."

1851, T. S. Arthur, “That John Mason”, in Off-Hand Sketches:

"Olson can hide out around here until the snow flies if he wants to. He knows these woods—every steam and lake—like a book."

1939 June 21, “Slayer Still Free in Woods”, in Leader Post, Saskatchewan, Canada, retrieved 2013-11-18, page 9:

"I played with the guy seven days a week; I knew him like a book."

1998 March 22, Dave Anderson, “College Basketball: When Sherman White Threw It All Away”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-11-18:

"Around here I know the shoreline like a book."

2010, Bill Ratcliffe, Liz, →ISBN, page 24:

(transitive, simile) To have an extensive and penetrating understanding of (something or someone).


fit as a Mallee bull

The Mallee is a major region for Australia's beef production in western Victoria.

(simile, Australia) In good physical health.


tight as a drum

Sly and the Family Stone sound entirely futuristic – like everyone else they have malfunctioning gear, but they “hurry up and play to avoid hanging you up”. Bang! Straight into Sing a Simple Song. Tight as a drum. Everyday People, a No 1 hit just a few weeks earlier, is a festival high point.

2019 August 15, Bob Stanley, “'Groovy, groovy, groovy': listening to Woodstock 50 years on – all 38 discs”, in The Guardian:

This boat is tight as a drum.

(simile) Wholly free from leaks, cracks, etc.


common as pig tracks

(simile) Very common or frequently encountered; not at all rare.

(simile) Very common or vulgar; not sophisticated.


smart as a whip

He's a smart chap, though ——smart as a whip, and knows a horse, too. Takes after his uncle Hod there; and Hod's a deal smarter than Seth, if he'd only stick to something, or go in with somebody that would furnish the stick for him.

1883 November 22, “Her Thanksgiving”, in The Youth's Companion, volume 56, number 47:


deader than disco

en-adj

deader than disco (comparative form only)

In reference to the disco trend of the 1970s.


hearty as a buck

(US, simile) Extremely healthy; extremely lively, high-spirited, or active.


red as a beetroot

(simile) Bright red in colour; used of the human face when a person is embarrassed.

кра́сный как рак (krásnyj kak rak, literally “red as a crawfish”)


happy as a pig in mud

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-happy as a pig in mud.wav

(idiomatic, simile) Very happy or content.


black as thunder

(simile) Very black (especially of a mood, a frown, etc.).


innocent as the babe unborn

innocent as the babe unborn (not comparable)


like peas and carrots

These vegetables are often served together.

like a house on fire
like a house on fire

(simile) Getting along very well; being compatible; like a house on fire.


like a boss

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-like a boss.wav

Usage peaked in 2008 after the release of the song "Like a Boss" by the comedy hip hop group The Lonely Island.

(Internet slang) Skillfully, confidently.


as the next guy

as the next girl (alternative)
as the next person (alternative)

I like reading as much as the next guy.

I'm as friendly as the next guy.

(idiomatic) To a reasonable degree; as much as a typical person or man.


as the next girl

I like reading as much as the next girl.

I'm as friendly as the next girl.

(idiomatic) To a reasonable degree; as much as a typical woman.


ready as Freddy

Chosen for the rhyme. First use appears c. 1951. See cite below.

Cinderella seldom got a chance to open the door for callers, so she was ready as Freddy.

1951, Florida State Prison (Raiford) (contributor), Raiford Record - Volumes 13-14, page 6:


black as night

I wanna see it painted / painted black / black as night / black as coal

1966, The Rolling Stones (lyrics and music), “Paint It, Black”, in Aftermath:


common as muck

How many times have you heard a young mother roll her eyes up to heaven at the sound of another mum calling out the name of her child, only to realize that the name she picked is now common as muck?

2011, David McWilliams, The Pope's Children, page 52:

(simile) Very common (in various senses).


like one owns the place

He strutted in here like he owned the place.

(informal) With a sense of arrogant superiority.


not as green as one is cabbage-looking

(informal, simile) Not as naive or foolish as might be expected.


dry as a nun's nasty

Referring to a nun's practice of sexual abstinence.

(Australia, simile, slang, vulgar) Very dry.


rare as hen's teeth

Since chickens lack teeth, the simile implies that something is rare.


scarce as hen's teeth

rare as hen's teeth
rare as hen's teeth#English


built like a shit brickhouse

built like a shit brickhouse (not comparable)

Paul was only a little fella, though game as a hungry lion, and knew he wouldn't have much chance against his rival, who he had heard was an ex-boxer and built like a shit brickhouse.

2012, Razor Smith, A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun: The Autobiography of a Career Criminal:

Hamish looked up as the door opened and Tank Milligan walked in, looking like a shit brickhouse wearing a suit. 'Dom said this guy was a big palooka, didn't he?

2017, Douglas Skelton, Tag - You're Dead:

Not to mention that even at seventy-one years old, he's still built like a shit brickhouse and his diet is probably planned out down to the minute.

2017, Chris Jericho, No Is a Four-Letter Word: How I Failed Spelling but Succeeded in Life:

I finally reach the bar counter and come face-to-face with Anne, a ferociously alcoholic sub I used to work with who's built like a shit brickhouse.

2020, Dan Kaufman, Drowning in the Shallows:

built like a brick shithouse
built like a brick shithouse#English


mad as a meat axe

(Australia, simile, colloquial) Very irate; crazy with rage.


bleed like a stuck pig

en-verb

bleed like a stuck pig (third-person singular simple present bleeds like a stuck pig, present participle bleeding like a stuck pig, simple past and past participle bled like a stuck pig)

bleeds like a stuck pig (present singular third-person)
bleeding like a stuck pig (participle present)
bled like a stuck pig (participle past)
bled like a stuck pig (past)


straight as a die

* Used in the sense of ‘correct,’ attested since April, 1871, originally American English, from the 18th-century expression as true as a die, from the 16th-century expression as smooth as a die, referring to the osseous substance that dice were formerly created with.
* Possibly connected with, or confused with, the metal-cutting tool called a die.

(simile) Completely or totally straight.


rare as a four-leaf clover

en-adj

rare as a four-leaf clover (not comparable)


fertile as a turtle

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fertile as a turtle.wav

Chosen for the rhyme (in North American pronunciations).


ugly as sin

It was easy enough to see that the child was a changeling, for it wasn't like other children at all it screamed and cried, as if a knife stuck in it, and it wheezed and hit about with its arms like a huldre-cat, and was as ugly as sin.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 298:

'She is a personality,' said M. Bouc. 'Ugly as sin, but she makes herself felt.'.

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 3, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 26:


Canadian as maple syrup

Canadian as maple syrup (not comparable)

George Matheson Murray, the man she was to meet in South Vancouver, was an oatmeal porridge Scot as Canadian as maple syrup.

2003, Stan Sauerwein, Ma Murray: The Story of Canada's Crusty Queen of Publishing, Altitude Publishing, →ISBN, page 20:

To many in the world theatre scene, Canada would, at first glance, appear to be an unlikely place for anything exciting to happen. So, what's a poor kid to do if he's Canadian as maple syrup, yet every fibre of his being screams, “Gotta sing! Gotta dance!"?

2006, Mel Alkey, Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre, National Heritage/Natural History, →ISBN, page 3:

Back home, meanwhile, souvenir shops in many Canadian cities feature humidors well stocked with Cuban tobacco products for sale to American tourists. The Cuban cigar has become, in a sense, as Canadian as maple syrup.

2014, Chris Turner, How to Breathe Underwater: Field Reports from an Age of Radical Change, Biblioasis, →ISBN, page 220:

(simile) Completely or quintessentially Canadian.


original as sin

Referring to the Christian concept of original sin.

Say what you will, once whispered a friend of mine, there are things in him strong as poison, and original as sin.

1824, The London Magazine, volume 9, page 529:

But I had no guess of it then as I sat writing by the fireside, in what seemed the spring-tides of a somewhat pedestrian inspiration; nor yet day by day, after lunch, as I read aloud my morning's work to the family. It seemed to me original as sin; it seemed to belong to me like my right eye.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:


dry as a nun's cunt

dry as a nun's nasty
dry as a nun's nasty#English

(simile, vulgar, offensive) Synonym of dry as a nun's nasty


cold as a well-digger's arse

cold as a well-digger's arse (not comparable)

colder than a well-digger's arse (alternative)

(simile, UK, colloquial, vulgar, humorous) Very cold.


work like a dog

en-verb

work like a dog (third-person singular simple present works like a dog, present participle working like a dog, simple past and past participle worked like a dog)

works like a dog (present singular third-person)
working like a dog (participle present)
worked like a dog (participle past)
worked like a dog (past)

(idiomatic, simile, informal) To work very hard.


black as the ace of spades

en-adj

black as the ace of spades (not comparable)


like one needs a hole in the head

like one needs a hole in one's head (alternative)

I need another parking citation like I need a hole in the head.


on it like a car bonnet

From English on it with the fanciful elaboration like a car bonnet, the latter part chosen because it rhymes with the first part.

Students have described being focused like... / ... An eagle watching its prey ... a footballer with their eye on the ball ... ‘on it like a car bonnet’ ... catching a wave ... ‘just do it’ ... rolling your sleeves up ... keeping the rhythm in a band ... in the zone ... in a bubble ...a tiger

2015, Jeff Gill, Will Medd, Get Sorted: How to Make the Most of Your Student Experience, Palgrave, →ISBN, page 49:

‘I had my researchers check the files on all the mispers and cold cases five years either side of that date estimate, on females of that approximate age. This is what they found. Fill your boots.’ He took a large gulp of his drink. / ‘I’m impressed, you've been moving fast.’ / ‘On it like a car bonnet, mate.’

2015, Peter James, You Are Dead, New York, N.Y.: Minotaur Books, →ISBN:

We'll spin it that you and me were having a friendly chat over a pint, and you just happened to mention the victim hiring you to find a necklace. Whereupon I, seeing as how I knew stuff you didn't, was on it like a car bonnet and got you to sing like a canary what's won the X Factor and got top billing at the Royal Opera House.

2016 July, J. L. Merrow, Blow Down: The Plumber's Mate, Cincinnati, Oh.: Samhain Publishing, →ISBN:

(simile, humorous) Synonym of on it (“actively working to solve a problem, etc.”)


like talking to a wall

like talking to a brick wall (alternative)

Are you even listening to me? It's like talking to a wall.

(idiomatic) A futile or unsuccessful attempt at communication due to the ignorance or stubbornness of the other party.

mar a bhith a' bruidhinn ri each na chadal


like talking to a brick wall

like talking to a wall
like talking to a wall#English

Alternative form of like talking to a wall


smart as paint

'But now, you look here: you're young, you are, but you're as smart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I'll talk to you like a man.'

'You have to be as smart as paint to keep this Puddin' in order. He's that artful, lawyers couldn't manage him.'

1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding:


empty as a pauper's purse

empty as a pauper's purse (not comparable)


live like a fighting cock

en-verb

live like a fighting cock (third-person singular simple present lives like a fighting cock, present participle living like a fighting cock, simple past and past participle lived like a fighting cock)

lives like a fighting cock (present singular third-person)
living like a fighting cock (participle present)
lived like a fighting cock (participle past)
lived like a fighting cock (past)


useful as a chocolate teapot

Since a chocolate teapot would be melted by hot tea and is therefore a useless idea.

as much use as a chocolate teapot (alternative)


like a martin to his gourd

like a martin to its gourd (alternative)

The ball flew to its mark like a martin to his gourd and Lucky Ned Pepper fell dead in the saddle.

Whether all of the above was reason enough I don't know, but I left East St. Louis and, like a martin to its gourd, I headed back to the cotton fields of southeastern Missouri.

2008, Paul Self, No Lower Place, page 219:

(simile, US, regional) Straight, unerringly, directly.


plain as porridge

a face plain as porridge

(simile) Very unattractive or unprepossessing.


comfortable as an old shoe

en-adj

comfortable as an old shoe (comparative more comfortable than an old shoe, superlative)

more comfortable than an old shoe (comparative)


fine as frog's hair

A play on both senses of fine, and the idea that frogs' hairs (since they have none) must be very slender.

fine as frog hair
fine as frog hair#English

(simile) Alternative form of fine as frog hair (“very fine; great; splendid”).


faster than a minnow can swim a dipper

en-adv

faster than a minnow can swim a dipper (not comparable)

before a minnow can swim a dipper (alternative)
quicker than a minnow can swim a dipper (alternative)


like a bitch on heat

like a dog on heat
like a dog on heat#English

(simile, vulgar) Synonym of like a dog on heat


white as a ghost

(simile) Very white, especially of a person's face as a result of fear.


easy as 123

easy as one two three (alternative)
easy as one, two, three (alternative)


arse like a Japanese flag

en-noun

arse like a Japanese flag (plural arses like Japanese flags)

(slang, vulgar) An anus inflamed by the passage of spicy foods.


like a moth to the flame

From the behavior of moths, that are instinctively attracted to light and are sometimes observed to go directly into flames, seemingly committing suicide.

like a moth to a flame (alternative)
like a moth to flame (alternative)

I came back and back to the same bad relationship, like a moth to the flame.

Inescapably allured by something harmful.

像飛蛾撲火一樣 /像飞蛾扑火一样

inescapably allured by something harmful


remember like it was yesterday

en-verb

remember like it was yesterday (third-person singular simple present remembers like it was yesterday, present participle remembering like it was yesterday, simple past and past participle remembered like it was yesterday)

remembers like it was yesterday (present singular third-person)
remembering like it was yesterday (participle present)
remembered like it was yesterday (participle past)
remembered like it was yesterday (past)

En-au-remember like it was yesterday.ogg

(simile, transitive) to remember very well, especially something that happened long ago


as shit

That movie is funny as shit!

(postpositive, vulgar, simile, informal, slang) To a great extent or degree; very


like a dose of salts

From the laxative properties of Epsom salts.

After five minutes' conversation with me the old folks would penetrate the deception like a dose of salts.

1949, P.G. Wodehouse, The Mating Season:

Every so often a mass campaign swept the country like a dose of salts, and officials, writers, artists, people in the public eye were purged and flushed out on a tidal wave of hysteria.

2009, Esther Cheo Ying, Black Country to Red China, →ISBN:

Carew, a notorious axeman, had just gone through a neighbouring regional station like a dose of salts, restructuring and streamlining, as he liked to call it.

She was a bit concerned about the old woman getting down on her knees because of her complaints about rheumatism, but ever since Becky had dropped her off, the maid had not stopped working and had gone through the hotel like a dose of salts.

2015, June Francis, A Mother's Duty, →ISBN, page 212:


innocent as the child unborn

en-adj

innocent as the child unborn (not comparable)

innocent comme l’enfant qui vient de naître

innocent comme l’agneau qui vient de naître


live like a king

en-verb

live like a king (third-person singular simple present lives like a king, present participle living like a king, simple past and past participle lived like a king)

lives like a king (present singular third-person)
living like a king (participle present)
lived like a king (participle past)
lived like a king (past)

(simile) To live in luxury, in costly and comfortable surroundings.


cold as a witch's kiss

colder than a witch's kiss (alternative)

They're all cold. Cold as a witch's kiss. Mean temperatures of 40° Fahrenheit. Never get hotter than 70.

1954, Alfred Bester, “Fondly Fahrenheit”, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 7, page 18:

Descend some twenty feet through the pleasant warmth of the ocean's upper layer and you are in water as cold as a witch's kiss.

1974, James W. Merchant, The use of high altitude aerial photography to inventory wildlife habitat in Kansas, page 40:

Outside, frost glimmered. November, cold as a witch's kiss. Cold as his heart.

2002, Judith Bowen, Cowboy Country, page 112:


poor as Job

The Book of Job depicts the eponymous wealthy and pious landowner as losing all his possessions and becoming afflicted with various ailments and misfortunes, as a test of his faith by God.

1804, Maria Edgeworth, "The Will", Popular Tales, 1813, Paraclete Potter, page 101.
Sir Plantagenet's son is as poor as Job; so she must have recourse to Marvel; and, if she gives him proper encouragement, he'll pay the money in a trice.


hot as fire

The breath was as hot as fire.


black as Newgate's knocker

en-adj

black as Newgate's knocker (not comparable)

(UK, simile) Completely black in colour.


lower than a snake's belly

lower than a snake's belly (comparative form only)


poor as a rat

poor as a church mouse
poor as a church mouse#English

(idiomatic, simile) Synonym of poor as a church mouse


black as a dog's guts

(simile, slang) Utterly black; pitch-black.


dumb as a post

(simile, idiomatic) Utterly mute; lacking the ability to speak.


gay as springtime

(rare, simile, derogatory) Overtly or flamboyantly homosexual.


mind like a steel trap

en-noun

mind like a steel trap (plural minds like steel traps)

(simile) A remarkably efficient mind; great skill in learning and/or reasoning.


like throwing a hot dog down a hallway

like throwing a sausage down a hallway (alternative)

En-au-like throwing a hot dog down a hallway.ogg

(simile, slang, vulgar) Used to describe penetrative sex with a woman who has a large, spacious vagina.


brown as a berry

All through that summer Heidi went up to the pasture every day with Peter and the goats, and grew brown as a berry in the mountain sunshine.

1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 39:

On Monday, July 14, Jack comes into the office as brown as a berry, blue eyes flashing in his sun-tanned face. He looks delicious.

1980 August 30, Nancy Walker, “My Boss Comes Out”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 6, page 7:


stiff as a board

The rigidity of the corpse was excessive; after about two hours and a half it was stiff as a board.

His stiff-as-a-board tranditionally ^([sic]) masculine good looks and constrained, stiff-upper lipped portrayal of Ed was a wonderful contrast to Fierstein's androgonous ^([sic]), physically mobile Arnold.

1981 December 12, Andrea F. Loewenstein, “Gay Theatre Verité”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 21, page 10:


curse like a pagan

en-verb

curse like a pagan (third-person singular simple present curses like a pagan, present participle cursing like a pagan, simple past and past participle cursed like a pagan)

curses like a pagan (present singular third-person)
cursing like a pagan (participle present)
cursed like a pagan (participle past)
cursed like a pagan (past)

When his father saw him he fumed terribly, cursing like a pagan, and asking whether his son were a roysterer fit for the gallows as well as a fool fit for a cassock.

[…]from the moment the guide announced he had lost his way, my factotum took leave at once of his courage and his senses and began to weep like a child and curse like a pagan.

1857, Robert Walter Stewart, The tent and the khan: A journey to Sinai and Palestine, page 482:

The Febrers returned to their house covered with renown even in defeat; one bearing the golden testimonial of the Caesar’s friendship; the other, the knight commander, lying on a litter, cursing like a pagan because the blockading of Algiers had been discontinued.

1920, Frances Douglas, The Dead Command, translation of Los Muertos Mandan by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, page 114:

(simile) Synonym of swear like a trooper


swear like a pagan

swear like a pagan (third-person singular simple present swears like a pagan, present participle swearing like a pagan, simple past swore like a pagan, past participle sworn like a pagan)

swears like a pagan (present singular third-person)
swearing like a pagan (participle present)
swore like a pagan (past)
sworn like a pagan (participle past)

Foulon began to swear like a pagan, shouting: ‘Get thee hence, thou rogue and blackguard! Thou shalt not have my wheat, or else I shall pay thee with a musket blow in the belly!’

2014, Helen Hagen, Evrard, Lord of Ethe, Books on Demand, translation of original by Ludovic Dispaux, →ISBN, page 218:


packed like sardines

Referring to sardines packed closely together in a tin (or can).

I'm pretty claustrophobic, so I didn't wanna hop in the elevator with them all packed like sardines in there.

Passengers are no longer "willing to be packed into trains like sardines", says London TravelWatch.

2022 March 23, “Network News: Passengers Unwilling to be ‘Packed Like Sardines’”, in Rail, number 953, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22:

(simile, informal) Densely packed; tightly squeezed together; crammed.

水洩不通 /水泄不通 (shuǐxièbùtōng, literally “even water cannot flow”)

鮨詰め (すしづめ, sushizume, literally “packed like sushi in a container”)


true as I stand here

(simile) Absolutely true; with no exaggeration or falsehood.


like a fart in church

Rick's scam to palm her off on Huey went over like a fart in church, just like Huey had predicted. She had indignantly scolded him when he brought it up.

2012, Jeff Brooks, Life During a Nation's Death, page 199:

(slang, vulgar, simile) In a way that is very poorly received.

Their blue uniforms and badges stick out like a fart in church.

2006, Michael Diamondstein, Cloaked in Doubt:

stick out like a sore thumb
stick out like a sore thumb

(slang, vulgar, simile) With great incongruity; so as to stick out like a sore thumb.


like a bag of ferrets

(simile) With a great deal of fuss, commotion, or physical jostling.


like ferrets in a bag

like a bag of ferrets
like a bag of ferrets#English

(simile) Alternative form of like a bag of ferrets


work like a Trojan

work like a Trojan (third-person singular simple present works like a Trojan, present participle working like a Trojan, simple past and past participle worked like a Trojan)

works like a Trojan (present singular third-person)
working like a Trojan (participle present)
worked like a Trojan (participle past)
worked like a Trojan (past)


brave as a lion

(simile, colloquial) Very brave; courageous


sweat like a horse

sweat like a horse (third-person singular simple present sweats like a horse, present participle sweating like a horse, simple past and past participle sweated like a horse)

sweats like a horse (present singular third-person)
sweating like a horse (participle present)
sweated like a horse (participle past)
sweated like a horse (past)

sweat like a pig
sweat like a pig#English


shake like a leaf

shake like a leaf (third-person singular simple present shakes like a leaf, present participle shaking like a leaf, simple past shook like a leaf, past participle shaken like a leaf)

shakes like a leaf (present singular third-person)
shaking like a leaf (participle present)
shook like a leaf (past)
shaken like a leaf (participle past)

My goodness, doll, you're shaking like a leaf. Rico! You've had your fun, pull up.

2008, Etan Cohen, Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, spoken by Skipper (Tom McGrath), DreamWorks Animation:

(simile, idiomatic) To tremble, as with fear, cold, etc.; to shiver.


like a phoenix from the ashes

(simile, idiomatic) So as to return triumphantly.


like the cat that got the cream

en-adj

like the cat that got the cream (not comparable)

En-au-like the cat that got the cream.ogg


like a duck to water

like a duck takes to water
like a duck takes to water#English

(simile, idiomatic) Alternative form of like a duck takes to water


hard as iron

The Torah notes that a teacher of the law must be as hard as iron.

2006, Nancy M. Tischler, All Things in the Bible, →ISBN, page 411:

Christina Rossetti takes up the theme: In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone, Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter Long ago

2011, Gillian Clarke, At the Source: A Writer's Year, →ISBN:

“If you tried to tell me what to do, we'd only end up engaged in a fierce battle of wills.” She felt him smirk against her neck. “Mine is hard as iron.” His will. He meant his will was hard as iron.

2014, Stephanie Draven, Poisoned Kisses, →ISBN:

A simple rap on the forehead with a fist hard as iron and their Fishy-Fish blacksmith would down for the count.

2015, Lee Bond, Dark Iron King I: Thy King's Will Be Done:


treat like dirt

en-verb

treat like dirt (third-person singular simple present treats like dirt, present participle treating like dirt, simple past and past participle treated like dirt)

treats like dirt (present singular third-person)
treating like dirt (participle present)
treated like dirt (participle past)
treated like dirt (past)

(transitive, simile) To treat someone badly, especially with disrespect or contempt.


drunk as a fiddler's bitch

en-adj

drunk as a fiddler's bitch (not comparable)


drunk as David's sow

Francis Grose, in his A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), claims derivation from an instance in which a man named David Lloyd, who was accustomed to showing his six-legged sow as a curiosity, found his intoxicated wife where he expected the sow to be. Grose's dictionary was meant as a work of humour, and this story is almost certainly fanciful. Variants of the phrase predate it by over a century (see e.g. R. Monsey's Scarronides (1665) "As drunk as any Davids Sows" (p. 20)).


like speaking to a brick wall

Alternative form of like talking to a wall


sleep like a dog

en-verb

sleep like a dog (third-person singular simple present sleeps like a dog, present participle sleeping like a dog, simple past and past participle slept like a dog)

sleeps like a dog (present singular third-person)
sleeping like a dog (participle present)
slept like a dog (participle past)
slept like a dog (past)

Skookum Bill, full of restless, tireless energy when on the trail, now passed to the other extreme. He slept like a dog, sixteen hours a day, rising to eat and smoke, and then falling back in his bunk, where he coiled himself very much like a hibernating bear. He was stupid with sleep, drugged with it, and he did absolutely nothing, leaving all the work to his partner.

1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:


cold as charity

An ironic reference to the cold-hearted nature of much so-called charity, which should naturally be warm.

"Here's another funny thing I don't quite believe," he said; "a minute ago the tea was boiling hot, and now it's as cold as charity. But I mustn't forget it's winter; that's what's making my fingers tremble so. Jolly cold — jolly cold. Yes, jolly cold as charity sounds topsy-turvy."

1883, Tinsley's magazine, conducted by E. Yates, volume 33, page 28:

(simile, rare, humorous) Very cold, whether in temperature or in demeanour.


soft as silk

soft as a baby's bottom
soft as a baby's bottom

(simile) very soft, soft as a baby's bottom


phony as a three-dollar bill

en-adj

phony as a three-dollar bill (not comparable)

queer as a three-dollar bill (alternative)
as fake as a two-dollar bill (alternative)

Though the film has some handsome, carefully staged action sequences, its machismo seems as phony as a three‐dollar bill.

1978 July 2, Vincent Canby, “Film View”, in New York Times, retrieved 2018-01-23:

But this chart, originally created by the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is as phony as a three-dollar bill. Our friends at PolitiFact did a pretty thorough takedown of it in May, giving it their worst rating: “pants on fire.”

2011 September 29, Glenn Kessler, “The Fact Checker: A bogus chart on Obama and the debt gets a new lease on life”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2018-01-23:

"You know, Mr. Sunshine, your laid-back, look-at-the-bright-side, the-glass-is-half-full malarkey is starting to come across as very condescending, especially since I know that your life-is-just-a-bowl-of-cherries spiel is as phony as a three-dollar bill."

2012, Joan Elliott Pickart, The Marrying MacAllister, →ISBN:

(simile, set phrase) Extremely phony; fake; dishonest; completely bogus.


sound as a barrel

(simile, rare) healthy, enjoying good health


crazy as a soup sandwich

crazy as a soup sandwich (not comparable)

Alluding to the fact that soup, a liquid, would not be a sensible sandwich filling.

(slang, simile) Utterly senseless or insane.


like a stuck pig

(simile) Like a pig or boar being slaughtered.


stare like a stuck pig

en-verb

stare like a stuck pig (third-person singular simple present stares like a stuck pig, present participle staring like a stuck pig, simple past and past participle stared like a stuck pig)

stares like a stuck pig (present singular third-person)
staring like a stuck pig (participle present)
stared like a stuck pig (participle past)
stared like a stuck pig (past)


drunk as a boiled owl

(simile, US, colloquial) Thoroughly drunk; inebriated.


thin as a rail

(simile, rare) Very thin, unhealthily thin.


hot as Hades

(simile, colloquial) extremely hot; hot as hell; hot as blazes


neat as a new pin

clean as a new pin (alternative)
neat as a pin (alternative)


mad as a bear with a sore head

en-adj

mad as a bear with a sore head (not comparable)

En-au-mad as a bear with a sore head.ogg


head

In the end he was blood from head to hocks and all over the place like a mad woman's custard.

1959, D'Arcy Niland, Woman from the country, page 212:

The story, though, is all over the place, like mad woman’s custard.

2010 January 27, Roger Perkins, “The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman: review”, in The Telegraph:

I was all over the place like a mad woman's custard.

2012, Jim Mcloughlin, David Gibb, One Common Enemy: The Laconia Incident: A Survivor's Memoir, →ISBN:

(colloquial, simile) Moving about randomly.


dumb as a doornail

From Middle English dom as a dore-nayle.

(simile, derogatory) Irrefutably or unquestionably dumb.


like winking

(slang, simile) Very rapidly; in a flash.


wisht as a winnard

(West Country, Cornwall, Devon, simile) Sickly, weak.


loose as a goose

(colloquial, simile) Very loose (in various senses).


as good as new

Chris Green remarks that this "world-class gateway to London and the UK still looks as good as new", [...].

2022 November 30, Nick Brodrick, “Pride and innovation shine at St Pancras”, in RAIL, number 971, page 69:

(simile) In a very good condition or state, especially after being damaged or used much.


talk like a book

en-verb

talk like a book (third-person singular simple present talks like a book, present participle talking like a book, simple past and past participle talked like a book)

talks like a book (present singular third-person)
talking like a book (participle present)
talked like a book (participle past)
talked like a book (past)

From the fact that the written language used in books is generally more formal than spoken language.

People ſhould not vvrite as they talk, except in letters (vvhich are but a converſation in vvriting): it is too careleſs. And they neither can nor ought to ſpeak as they vvrite, for this vvould be unnatural. I ſuppose it vvas first intended as a compliment to a perſon to ſay, He talks like a book; but this, vvhich vvas once looked upon as a compliment, and vvas, indeed, a pretty high-ſtrain'd one, has ſerved ſince for one of the diſtinguiſhing marks of a coxcomb.

1744, [Nicolas-Charles-Joseph] Trublet, “Of the Different Talents for Speaking and Writing”, in [anonymous], transl., Essays upon Several Subjects of Literature and Morality. […], London: […] J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, section V, page 53:

“I am sure,” said Abel to Caliban, looking at the hearth-stone of the chimney with lively curiosity, “that there is below there, the entrance to a subterranean palace, like the garden in which Aladdin took his lamp, with a pavement of sapphire, pillars of diamond, golden fruits, the seeds of the pomegranate, rubies, and where a little fairy with a wand, is seated on a throne of mother-of-pearl; she is beautiful as a spring morning; she has a chariot drawn by pigeons, and she will take me to see my father and mother.” “Ah, Abel!” replied Caliban, “thou talkest like a book!”

1846, [Honoré] de Balzac, “La Dernière Fée”, in T. D. F., transl., The Literary Garland, and Canadian Magazine; a Monthly Repository of Tales, Sketches, Poetry, Music, Engravings, &c. &c., new series, volume IV, Montreal, Que.: […] [John] Lovell & [John] Gibson, […], chapter III (The Good Chemist Dies), page 79, column 2:

I have often thought as I sat at table with people who were found of "talking like a book," that what they said was in great measure as unintelligible to English-speaking persons who were not classically educated, as simply-bred Romans must have found that of Cicero and his set when they interlarded their talk with Greek.

1874 March, Richard Grant White, “Linguistic and Literary Notes and Queries. IV. John Stuart Mill’s Autobiography.”, in The Galaxy. A Magazine of Entertaining Reading, volume XVII, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Sheldon & Company, […], →OCLC, page 340:

Marg[are]t. And what am I but a labourer like yourselves—one o’ the hand-spinners those cranks and rollers will undo? There stands my wheel. (Points to it.) No lass in Leigh or Preston has worked harder or earned more at hand-spinning than I have. No lass in Leigh or Preston either better knows the curse invention brings to the inventor and his home. Have I not prayed my master but now, as I have prayed my father for years, to turn from these things—to leave Lancashire to the warp and weft that was good enough for our fathers, and to the old wheel and shuttle on which our hands were most at home? Mob (murmurs). She’s reet. Bob. Curse me, but thou talkest like a book. Dick. Or like a man; that’s more to the purpose. Marg[are]t. But none the more will I see this wondrous work of my master’s brain and hand—the thing he has made and loved—that’s been to him as a bairn—that may well be more to him than a wife—smashed by those that wish as little good to him as to his work.

1877, Tom Taylor, Historical Dramas, London: Chatto & Windus, […], page 323:

[The conversations in the books] are often wanting in force (which, as they frequently take place between men alone, and rarely between women alone, is perhaps not to be wondered at); when serious they are a little apt to be sententious—the characters being too much addicted to "talking like a book"; and when lively or humorous are somewhat inclined to be rather trivial than bright.

1889 January, F. M. Capes, “Art. V.—A Dominican Story-teller. […]”, in The Dublin Review, volume XXI, number I (Third Series), London: Burns & Oates, […], →OCLC, pages 71–72:

“Then, who,” the sick man meekly said, / “Shall heal the sick and hide the dead?— / “Snatch the despairer’s poisoned cup; / Clothe shame, and give the outcast sup?— / “Lighten, if only by a hair, / The load of human pain and care?” / The hermit gave a kindly look; / “Faith, now thou talkest like a book. / “Here, come!” he seized a half-charred brand— / “Write on my wall there, something grand. / “I doubt if God used thee so much / To find and heal things with thy touch.”

1898, Wilfred Woollam, “Fragments from Two Hearts”, in Child Illa and Other Poems, Sheffield: J. Arthur Bain; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., pages 163–164:

“I pray thee, Mens, didst thou not understand that this ragged man was but a crazed fool?” “Nay, sir,” said I to Vegge Go, “thou art severe in thy say; for he is but an ill-balanced man, of whom ’tis claimed that he is on the borderland, and of the higher order of degenerates.” “Gracious goodness!” said Vegge Go, “if fool he be, where dost thou find thy man of sense? He talketh like a book and looketh like a beggar.” “True,” said Theo Celsus, who had joined us. “They are oft inflated talkers, whose misguided judgment may lead them into the realms of genius, only to lapse into bombast, pretense, and mediocrity.[…]”

1898, Warren B. Outten, “Man’s Inherited Martyrdom—A Fitful Study of Degeneration”, in The Tri-State Medical Journal and Practitioner, volume V, St. Louis, Mo., chapter VI (The Strange and Marvelous Difference Between Rags and Mentality.—[…]), page 390:

"You talk like a book, my friend," said my lord, smiling, and puffing away at his pipe, "but you talked of saving time, and I do not yet know the purpose of your errand."

1906 January, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “Lord and Peasant”, in A Son of the People: A Romance of the Hungarian Plains, London: Greening & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 116:

Being with her mother made her talk like a book. Her mother talked like a book: then she did. They must; if they did not they would scream. … But they were English ladies. Of scholarly habits of mind. It was horrible.

1926 October, Ford Madox Ford, chapter X, in A Man Could Stand Up — […] (Parade’s End; 3), 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Albert & Charles Boni, published December 1926, →OCLC, part III, page 310:

‘Unfortunately, I am one of those whose stumbling phrases, disconnected and unuttered for many a year, may displease Your Presence by their inelegance. May your life be extended.’ I touched my head, eyes and heart, in a suitably ceremonial way. ‘Thou talkest like a book’, he muttered. I searched my repertoire and resumed, ‘Noble Sir: the sacred Arabian tongue has been, for us rough mountaineers, largely a language of the books for even unto a thousand years.[’]

1987, Idries Shah, “Pliny Rules in Badgersden”, in Adventures, Facts and Fantasy in Darkest England, London: The Octagon Press, →ISBN, page 55:

He loved that I "talked like a book" and not like any of the other girls, […]

2008, Andrew Sean Greer, “Part I”, in The Story of a Marriage (A Frances Coady Book), New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 4:

(simile, informal) To talk pedantically, or using excessively difficult or literary words.

puhua kirjakieltä

to talk pedantically, or using excessively difficult or literary words

You cannot conceive, ladies, hovv good a ſchool that tavern vvas to me. It vvas frequented by a great number of learned men, vvho talked like a book concerning the character of a vvorthy man; of the pleaſure and advantage that, in every condition of life, attended the being juſt, good, and honourable; […]

1793 February, [Jean-François] Marmontel, “The Waterman of Besons”, in [anonymous], transl., The Sentimental and Masonic Magazine, volume II, Dublin: […] John Jones, […], →OCLC, page 131:

"Thence," said the slim gentleman, glibly talking like a book—a railway guide-book, at least—"thence by rail to Utrecht and Emerick on the Prussian frontier, you know. Then to Cologne—remember the Three Kings and the Eleven Thousand Virgins."

1860, George Augustus Sala, “From the Tower of London to Rotterdam on the Rhine”, in Make Your Game, or, The Adventures of the Stout Gentleman, the Slim Gentleman, and the Man with the Iron Chest: A Narrative of the Rhine and thereabouts, London: Ward and Lock, […], →OCLC, page 9:

But then no disgrace is attached in France to saying a thing neatly; whereas in England, to talk like a book is to give in one’s resignation to society.

1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Origny Sainte-Benoîte: A By-day”, in An Inland Voyage, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 122–123:

His voice, even when he spoke in hate, was precise and impersonal. He talked like a book; his talk had the clarity and dryness of a book.

1936 March, John Cheever, “In Passing”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, […], →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-09-05, section III, page 336, column 1:

Apart from some minimal tidying up (nearly always to my questions and comments; [Greil] Marcus “talks like a book,” as folk in England used to say about eloquent persons) and one small liberty taken with sequencing to preserve chronological flow, this is exactly how the conversation went down.

2012 April 27, Simon Reynolds, “Myths and Depths: Greil Marcus talks to Simon Reynolds (Part 1)”, in Los Angeles Review of Books, Glendale, Calif.: Los Angeles Review of Books, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-07-20:

(simile, informal) To talk precisely and with authority.


like a knife through butter

(simile) With great ease and effectiveness.

wie durch Butter

only with verbs of cutting or passing through


boring as beans

Spencer remembers the session as being 'as boring as beans'. A handful of copies of the record were pressed with the catalogue number Philles 111, and copies sent to both Sill and Finfer.

2012, Mick Brown, Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise And Fall of Phil Spector:

(simile, informal) Very boring; devoid of interest.


right as ninepence

(UK, simile) Perfectly all right; in sound condition.


broker than the Ten Commandments

en-adj

broker than the Ten Commandments (comparative form only)

En-au-broker than the Ten Commandments.ogg

A pun on the sense of broke 'without money' and broken, with potential reference both to Moses' destruction ('breaking') of the tablets on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:19) and sinners' violation ('breaking') of the Ten Commandments in daily life.

I needed money—Dad would have said I was broker than the Ten Commandments—so I went to get my old job back...

(simile, humorous, dated) Extremely impoverished.


done up like a dog's dinner

done up like a dog's dinner (not comparable)

dressed up like a dog's dinner (alternative)

(simile, informal) Dressed in an ostentatious or overly formal manner.


like a chicken on a June bug

Lots of times you just have to step out on faith when you think something is the right way to go. J.D. took to the forestry stuff like a chicken on a June Bug.

2006, Richard Etheredge, A Logger's Dream, page 61:

So there I was, struggling mightily to protect my virtue with my step-father-in-law all over me like a chicken on a June bug, and I would have been shamed for sure, but the good Lord sent me a sign in the form of a hot brick.

Baz pounced quickly, like a chicken on a June bug.

2014, Allan Lawrence, Olympus and Beyond, page 340:

(Canada, US, simile, informal) Very quickly; in short order.


go like a dream

en-verb

go like a dream (third-person singular simple present goes like a dream, present participle going like a dream, simple past went like a dream, past participle gone like a dream)

goes like a dream (present singular third-person)
going like a dream (participle present)
went like a dream (past)
gone like a dream (participle past)
work like a dream (alternative)


like a dying duck in a thunderstorm

(simile, rare) Looking hopelessly sad and dejected.


done up like a kipper

(simile, UK, slang) cheated or exploited; treated unfairly


modern as next week

(simile) Thoroughly modern; completely up to date.


grow like a weed

grow like a weed (third-person singular simple present grows like a weed, present participle growing like a weed, simple past grew like a weed, past participle grown like a weed)

grows like a weed (present singular third-person)
growing like a weed (participle present)
grew like a weed (past)
grown like a weed (participle past)

The twins grew like weeds: it seemed we were buying clothes every few weeks.


all over someone like a rash

“Do ya want some grub? I suppose I betta feed ya,” said the vile woman. “If ya starve to death I’ll have social services all over me like a bleedin’ rash.”

2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

(simile, colloquial, derogatory) Giving someone an excessive amount of attention, especially romantic or sexual attention.


drop like a bad habit

drop like a bad habit (third-person singular simple present drops like a bad habit, present participle dropping like a bad habit, simple past and past participle dropped like a bad habit)

drops like a bad habit (present singular third-person)
dropping like a bad habit (participle present)
dropped like a bad habit (participle past)
dropped like a bad habit (past)

(transitive, simile, informal) To cease contact or a relationship with someone as quickly as possible.

laisser tomber comme une vieille chaussette


plenty as blackberries

Mr. [Percy Bysshe] Shelley, your reason? Were this pressed hard upon you, you would probably with [John] Falstaff exclaim, "If reasons were as plenty as black-berries, I would not give you one upon compulsion!"

1938, Newman Ivey White, “Queen Mab [A Radical Seeks Shelter (William Clark’s Reply to … Queen Mab, 1821)]”, in The Unextinguished Hearth: Shelley and His Contemporary Critics, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, →OCLC, chapter I (Anti-matrimonial Thesis of Queen Mab), page 73:

(archaic, simile) Very plentiful, very abundant.


cross as two sticks

(simile) Particularly ill-natured and disagreeable.


read like an open book

read like an open book (third-person singular simple present reads like an open book, present participle reading like an open book, simple past and past participle read like an open book)

reads like an open book (present singular third-person)
reading like an open book (participle present)
read like an open book (participle past)
read like an open book (past)

read like a book
read like a book#English

(transitive, simile) Alternative form of read like a book


dressed up like a Christmas tree

en-adj

dressed up like a Christmas tree (not comparable)

En-au-dressed up like a Christmas tree.ogg

(informal, simile) Richly or gaudily clothed or ornamented.


lit up like a Christmas tree

lit up like a Christmas tree (not comparable)

Only one room of the house was being used, but the whole place was lit up like a Christmas tree.


plain as Dunstable highway

plain as Dunstable highway (not comparable)


lie like a cheap rug

en-verb

lie like a cheap rug (third-person singular simple present lies like a cheap rug, present participle lying like a cheap rug, simple past and past participle lied like a cheap rug)

lies like a cheap rug (present singular third-person)
lying like a cheap rug (participle present)
lied like a cheap rug (participle past)
lied like a cheap rug (past)

A pun on two senses of lie: a rug lies flat on the floor.

(simile, slang) To tell numerous or serious lies.


cracked as an egg

(informal, simile) Utterly crazy or insane.


fight like cat and dog

fight like cat and dog (third-person singular simple present fights like cat and dog, present participle fighting like cat and dog, simple past and past participle fought like cat and dog)

fights like cat and dog (present singular third-person)
fighting like cat and dog (participle present)
fought like cat and dog (participle past)
fought like cat and dog (past)
fight like cats and dogs (alternative)

(UK, simile) To fight frequently or irreconcilably.


mild as milk

(simile) Very mild, in temperament or otherwise.


weak as water

As I was lying back as weak as water, Aunt Mary came in behind me, and flew to me with a little rustle as if she had come on wings, and put her arms round me, and drew my head on to her breast.

1896, Margaret Oliphant, The Library Window:

When I managed to restore her she was as weak as water and cried silently between long, painful struggles for breath.

1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York: Doubleday & McClure, published 1899, page viii. 98:


homely as a hedge fence

"I must have a husband!" said Miss Crooks, "what shall I do? Here I am hard upon my 25th year, and they say I am as homely as a hedge fence to boot! what shall I do?"

1850 October 7, "A Trifling Mistake," The Adams Sentinal (Gettysbury, Pennsylvania), p. 1 (Google news archive)

This Subaru station wagon was as homely as a hedge fence and cramped as a corn crib, but it was the immediate hit of every ski town in the country.

1988 December, Denise McCluggage, "Top Snow Country Vehicles," Snow Country Magazine, p. 71 (Google preview) (retrieved 7 April 2019)

"Louise had been sweet-tempered but homely as a hedge fence," Charlotte observes, "[…] pools of wrinkles widened out over her face like somebody had thrown a pebble in it."

2008 July 12, Anna Mundow, “Legends of Troy”, in Irish Times, retrieved 2019-04-07:

(chiefly US, dated, idiomatic) Having no physically attractive characteristics, but not blatantly ugly; very plain in appearance.


dumb as a rock

Voice assistants are “dumb as a rock,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in an interview this month with The Financial Times, declaring that newer A.I. would lead the way.

2023 March 15, Brian X. Chen, Nico Grant, Karen Weise, quoting Satya Nadella, “How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, simile) Very stupid; dumb as a post.


keen as a bean

2018 Alasdair Duncan, Here’s How To Improve Your Pitiful Uber Rating From Someone Who Did It Pedestrian, 17 September 2018. Accessed 4 May 2019.
On my afternoon trip home, I struck a driver who seemed keen as a bean to get me to mash that five star rating – his Mitsubishi Outlander was stocked with mints and bottled water and he offered them all to me and even asked if I wanted to make any extra stops on the way home.

(simile, informal) Very keen; enthusiastic; eager.


fat as a house

She was fat — fat as a house. My daddy told her not to eat one more thing, and she still got fat.

2009, Lynne Mitchell, To Touch the Whale, page 74:

2011 Danny Baker winning cancer fight Daily Express, 11 May 2011. Accessed 4 May 2019.
Danny, who has three children, Bonnie, 27, Sonny, 24 and Mancie, 12 with wife Wendy, says the weight loss is no silver lining: “In a couple of years I hope to be bulging at the seams again, fat as a house.


still as a stock

the old woman was not so intent at her devotions, but she casting her eyes aside likewise saw a Purse in the Boys hand, missing her own soon knew that to be it, wherefore she and all the people came nearer the Boy, who stood still as a stock and said nothing to them

1674, Francis Kirkman, The English Rogue: Continued in the Life of Meriton Latroon And Other Extravagants, volume 3, page 213:

And there you stand, doing nothing — absolutely still as a stock, though you see him beating your wife.

1899, William Gilmore Simms, Confession; or, The blind heart: a domestic story, page 117:


cold as a mackerel

1920, Fire Service (Official organ of the Fire Marshals’ Association of North America, and Eastern Association of Superintendents of Fire and Police Telegraph), 6 March, 1920, p. 7,
“I tell you, Governor, that in those days they weren’t ashamed to have a little good liquor around to warm the insides of a man weary and as cold as a mackerel from an all night job.”

At that raw spring hour, mid-February or early March, the sky would be as beautifully cold as a mackerel, bluish-white at its base, everywhere else a dark bruise-blue except where gas lamps in the streets let in a pale green-whitish-yellow,

1964, Seán Ó Faoláin, chapter 4, in Vive Moi!, Boston: Little, Brown, page 61:

In some areas our audiences enjoyed the music; in others they were cold as a mackerel.

1988, Garvin Bushell, Mark Tucker, chapter 16, in Jazz from the Beginning, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, page 131:

(simile) Very cold (in temperature, emotionally, etc.).


pretty as a speckled pup

en-adj

pretty as a speckled pup (not comparable)


grave as a judge

... was as grave as a Judge , and evidently in sad , sober earnest as indeed appeared the next minute , when he went off into one of his fits of abstraction , but continued to talk to himself . From what he muttered it was plain that he was[…]

1842, The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register, page 298:

... was as grave as a judge . Mr Prothero was as much struck with the improvement in the widow's appearance as his son . ' Why , I declare , cousin ' Lizabeth , you look ten years younger than you did when I saw you last . Do you mind when[…]

1881, Anne Beale, Gladys, the reaper, by the author of 'Simplicity and fascination'. By A.Beale, page 97:

... was as grave as a judge at the moment, "because I must; I've been thinking of her ever since I picked you up. It's queer, Britten, but I do believe you're going to bring me luck, and that's as true as Gospel." "And true it shall be[…]

2021 January 10, Max Pemberton, Max Pemberton Ultimate Collection: 50+ Adventure Tales & Detective Mysteries: The Iron Pirate, The Sea Wolves, Jewel Mysteries…, e-artnow:


smooth as butter

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-smooth as butter.wav

Possibly from Psalm 55:21 in the Bible: "His talk is smooth as butter …"

"His talk is smooth as butter [...]

2011, Biblica, Holy Bible: New International Version, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN, Psalms 55:21:


wise as an owl

Association of owl with wisdom dates back at least to 500 BC in Greece which associated the owl with the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena.