dry as a dead dingo's donger

en-adj

dry as a dead dingo's donger (not comparable)

drier than a dead dingo's donger (alternative)
dry as a dead dingo's donga (alternative)

EN-AU ck1 dry as a dead dingo s donger.ogg

‘Not on a Sunday, mate. Town's as dry as a dead dingo′s donger. This is Queensland,’ explained one of the station hands.

2008, Di Morrissey, Heart of the Dreaming, page 376:

‘It′s been an absolute bloody stinker today, hasn′t it?’ said the tanned octogenarian in an almost indecipherable Australian accent. ‘Dry as a dead dingo′s donger.’

2010, Jessica Rudd, Campaign Ruby, page 181:

2010, Peter FitzSimons, Tobruk, eBook, unnumbered page,
Not a blade of anything seemed to grow in those parts; the whole place was as dry as a dead dingo′s donger, and yet, somehow, just, the local population seemed to hang on.

(Australia, simile, informal) Very dry, extremely dry.

‘No worries,’ Frank said, paying for his drink. ‘Boy, I need this. I′m drier than a dead dingo′s donger.’

2001, David Franklin, Looking for Sarah Jane Smith, unnumbered page:

“Let′s have a bottle.” Tim leant across and whispered, “I′m as dry as a dead dingo′s donger.”

2005, Patrick Taylor, Now and in the Hour of Our Death, page 70:

‘Christ, I need a beer,’ Brennan muttered. ‘I'm dry as a dead dingo′s donger.’

2010, Gabrielle Lord, The Sharp End, unnumbered page:

(Australia, simile, informal) Very thirsty.


like two peas in a pod

(simile, of two things) Very similar; a couple made for each other.


like

Adjective from Middle English lik, lyk, lich, like, from Old English ġelīċ by shortening, influenced by Old Norse líkr, glíkr; both from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“like, similar, same”). Related to alike; more distantly, with lich and -ly. Cognate with West Frisian like (“like; as”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”) Swedish lik (“like, similar”)
Adverb from Middle English like, lyke, liche, lyche, from Old English ġelīċe (“likewise, also, as, in like manner, similarly”) and Old Norse líka (“also, likewise”); both from Proto-Germanic *galīkê, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“same, like, similar”).
Conjunction from Middle English like, lyke, lik, lyk, from the adverb Middle English like.
Preposition from Middle English like, lyke, liche, lyche, lijc, liih (“similar to, like, equal to, comparable with”), from Middle English like (adjective) and like (adverb).

der

Popcorn costs something like 10 dollars at the movies.


like clockwork

(simile) With perfect regularity and precision; faultless.


avoid like the plague

en-verb

avoid like the plague (third-person singular simple present avoids like the plague, present participle avoiding like the plague, simple past and past participle avoided like the plague)

avoids like the plague (present singular third-person)
avoiding like the plague (participle present)
avoided like the plague (participle past)
avoided like the plague (past)

/əˈvɔɪd laɪk ðə ˈpleɪɡ/

From the deadliness of the plague and the need to avoid it. Commonly attributed to similar phrases in Latin used by the priest and theologian Saint Jerome (c. 347–420) in his letters, for example:
:
His igitur quasi quibusdam pestibus exterminatis veniamus ad eos,[…]
Avoiding these [the Remnuoth, a class of monks in Egypt] then as though they were the plague, […]
:
[N]egotiatorem clericum et ex inope divitem et ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandem pestem fuge
Avoid, as you would the plague, a clergyman who is also a man of business, one who has risen from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to a high position

quote

His igitur quasi quibusdam pestibus exterminatis veniamus ad eos, […]

Avoiding these 􂀿the Remnuoth, a class of monks in Egypt􂁀 then as though they were the plague, […]

􂀿N􂁀egotiatorem clericum et ex inope divitem et ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandem pestem fuge

Cliché should be avoided like the plague.

I’m one of those people who avoids confrontations like the plague.

It is the country of countries where the people pass their lives in enjoying the dolce far niente. Hard work is a thing they hate, and carefully avoid like the plague.

1872 April, “A Ramble in Peru”, in I[saac] W[illiam] Wiley, editor, The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted to Literature and Religion, volume XXXII (New Series, volume IX), number 16, Cincinnati, Oh.: Hitchcock and Walden; New York, N.Y.: Carlton and Lanahan, →OCLC, page 263, column 2:

Without posing as experts, we believe that the first essential to the efficient teacher of the young is a sense of direction, and that the danger to avoid like the plague is the patronage of the child. In both these respects, musicians in charge of orchestral concerts for children in this country fail miserably.

1925, Musical News and Herald, London: The Musical News Syndicate, →OCLC, page 389, column 1:

Evening dress was barred, because you were all "good pals" and didn't want to look like the "boring people" who were to be avoided like the plague and only asked to the big evenings, which were given as seldom as possible and then only if it would amuse the painter or make the musician better known.

1992, Marcel Proust, C[harles] K[enneth] Scott Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin and D[ennis] J[oseph] Enright, transl., “Part Two: Swann in Love”, in In Search of Lost Time: Volume 1: Swann’s Way, New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, →ISBN, page 267:

A lot of things I'd like to talk about and I'm avoiding like the plague.

1996, Elizabeth Smither, “The Journal of the Thirty-third Year: September 1975 – August 1976”, in The Journal Box, Auckland: Auckland University Press, →ISBN, page 4:

[A] movement has historic meaning only insofar as it puts itself on the side of human dignity and the protection of life, even of the lives most unworthy of such respect. A revolution is interesting insofar as it avoids like the plague the plague it promised to heal.

2003, Daniel J[oseph] Berrigan, “Letter to the Weathermen”, in Joy James, editor, Imprisoned Intellectuals: America’s Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion (Transformative Politics Series), Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, part II (Internationalists and Anti-imperialists), page 245:

(simile) To evade or shun, if at all possible.

G. P. Putnam's Sons
Loeb Classical Library
Plague (disease)

бежа́ть, как чёрт от ла́дана (bežátʹ, kak čort ot ládana, literally “run away like devil from frankincense”)


spread like wildfire

en-verb

spread like wildfire (third-person singular simple present spreads like wildfire, present participle spreading like wildfire, simple past and past participle spread like wildfire)

spreads like wildfire (present singular third-person)
spreading like wildfire (participle present)
spread like wildfire (participle past)
spread like wildfire (past)

The virus spread like wildfire throughout the Internet.

The propaganda of the rebels spread like wild-fire, and the hopes of the more daring Irish Catholics rose high.

1789, The Gentleman's Magazine, page 651:

"We can sense the tension in Perth," wrote the Scotsman, "when the news spread like wildfire that a runaway engine of ancient vintage was heading north without a soul on the footplate.

1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469:

Inspired by Edith Piaf’s 1951 song of the same name, Padam Padam is a reference to the sound of the human heartbeat, and has spread like wildfire thanks to its infectious nature and brevity (it clocks in at 2 mins, 46 seconds).

2023 May 31, Nadia Khomami, “Kylie Minogue ‘bursting with joy’ as new single Padam Padam soars up charts”, in The Guardian:

It became a popular garden plant in the 20th century, when a Chinese variant (Buddleia Davidii ^([sic])) was introduced. That's when the trouble started. The plant has spread like wildfire since. Its fast-growing invasive nature and survivability is a huge problem for the railways, as (left alone) it can cause serious, expensive damage to structures, block drivers sightlines, or pose a risk to lineside workers.

2024 November 13, Paul Bigland, “Much to admire... but pockets of neglect”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 49:

(intransitive, simile) To spread or disseminate rapidly or uncontrollably.


as all get-out

as all get out (alternative)
as get-out (alternative)

Miss Collins looks pretty as all get out on a club floor, much more so than a frequent TV camera shot would lead you to suppose.

John and I got over to the house around eight o’clock and were all set to watch a television show when we noticed Mr. Pignati was sad as all get out.

1968 October 12, Paul Zindel, chapter 10, in The Pigman:

(US, idiomatic, informal, simile) Extremely; to a superlative degree; very much.


cool as a cucumber

First use appears c. 1722 in a translation of Robinson Crusoe. See cite below.

Even during the elections, Josh was as cool as a cucumber.

Still he had all his wits about him, and was as cool as a cucumber.

1722, Daniel Defoe, Tweede deel der wonderbare levens gevallen van Robinson Crusoe ... Nu uit het Engelsch vertaaldt, en met een kaart zyner voyagie, en figuren voorzien (translation), page 167:

1731, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Miscellanies: The Last Volume
Pert as a Pear-Monger I'd be,
If Molly were but kind;
Cool as a Cucumber could see
The rest of Womankind

Seconds later, Dowd was pointing to the spot again - this time without changing his mind - after Walcott was tugged back by Parker. Fabregas, cool as a cucumber, fired his penalty straight down the middle of the goal.

2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC:

“I’d be shaking in my shoes to ride in the Preakness,” said Desormeaux, who finished dead last in his first Preakness in 1988. “Now, not only have I won it twice [in 1998 on Real Quiet and in 2008 on Big Brown], I’ve lived life. I’ll be as cool as a cucumber in the saddle” with Exaggerator on Saturday.

2016 May 17, Don Markus, “For Kent Desormeaux, Preakness is a welcome Maryland homecoming”, in The Washington Post:

(simile, informal) Calm and composed even in difficult or frustrating situations; self-possessed.


keen as mustard

He was keen as mustard to begin the new job, until he learned what it really entailed.

(simile) Very keen, enthusiastic, eager.


nervous as a cat

She's as nervous as a cat.

nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs


shoot through like a Bondi tram

shoot through like a Bondi tram (third-person singular simple present shoots through like a Bondi tram, present participle shooting through like a Bondi tram, simple past and past participle shot through like a Bondi tram)

shoots through like a Bondi tram (present singular third-person)
shooting through like a Bondi tram (participle present)
shot through like a Bondi tram (participle past)
shot through like a Bondi tram (past)

en-au-shoot through like a Bondi tram.ogg

1945 April, John Scarlett, censored dispatch quoted in 2011, Fay Anderson, Richard Trembath, Witnesses to War: The History of Australian Conflict Reporting, Melbourne University Press, page 197,
[…] then he gets back into his jeep says good luck boys and shoots through like a Bondi tram.

When it came to the real thing, panic took over and the routine shot through like a Bondi tram, to be replaced by a three-ring circus.

1994, Lydia Laube, The Long Way Home: Nobody Goes that Way, published 2002, page 22:

She had put the wind up them, called them “un-Australian”, and took to them with her parasol and they shot through like a Bondi tram, one of the men with a gash on his neck that he won′t quickly forget.

2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 431:

(simile, Australia, colloquial, informal) To leave in haste.


pissed as a newt

(slang, simile) Drunk to the point of incapacity; inebriated.

пиян като талпа

drunk to the point of incapacity; inebriated


talk like an apothecary

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

talks like an apothecary (present singular third-person)
talking like an apothecary (participle present)
talked like an apothecary (participle past)
talked like an apothecary (past)

As to Clement of Alexandria, I shall pass him by, as he knew nothing about the matter. He talks like an apothecary on the subject; and when did ever an apothecary talk to any purpose?

1824, Naso., Sneezing, in The New Monthly Magazine, volume X, page 152

"And you have so little of the former left," said the old woman, as she presented him with a plate of the aliment and a glass of the menstruum, "that without we have a fresh supply, I foresee that you will be reduced to live upon your own medicines."
"You do not talk like an apothecary," said Nadir, "if you expect that I could exist upon them in the way you suggest."

July, 1807, Omar and Fatima; or, the Apothecary of Ispahan, published in the Literary Magazine and American Register, volume VIII, number 46, page 6

(intransitive, idiomatic, archaic slang) To prattle.


head

a nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat

– Idle: Is your wife a… a goer… eh? Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge nudge. Nudge nudge. Know what I mean? Say no more. Know what I mean?
– Jones: I beg your pardon?
– Idle: Your wife… does she, er, does she ‘go’… eh? eh? eh? Know what I mean, know what I mean? Nudge nudge. Say no more.
– Jones: Well, she sometimes ‘goes’, yes.
– Idle: I bet she does. I bet she does. I bet she does. Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge nudge.
– Jones: I’m sorry, I don’t quite follow you.
– Idle: Follow me. Follow me. And I like that. That’s good. A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?

1969, Monty Python's Flying Circus, "Nudge Nudge", a sketch from the third episode of the British comedy series, first broadcast on the BBC on 19th October 1969, featuring Eric Idle and Terry Jones as two strangers in a pub. Conversation

I shook my head. He couldn't see that, though. A wink is the same as a nod to a blind man.

1983, Raymond Carver, Cathedral (short story where a blind man visits a couple at their home)

(simile, colloquial) The idea/proposed action is inconsequential to the current situation.


like the back end of a bus

Not really fighting over her (puns aside). When you get a current beau and an ex, full of booze and testosterone, meeting up, their common interest isn't much of an issue in the subsequent display of machismo. I think she looks like the back end of a bus but, to them, she was a 'possession'.

2001, "Richard", "A sign of our times...", demon.local http://groups.google.com/group/demon.local/browse_thread/thread/3e3e39af204c46cb/06729fc6d595ef98?lnk=st&q=%22the+back+end+of+a+bus%22&rnum=21#06729fc6d595ef98

Must admit, I like the *original* 911s - the original, late-1960s ones back before they fitted bulgey wheelarches and silly tea-tray rear spoilers. They look much more like delicate, precision instruments compared with the later 'sledgehammer" versions [which IMHO are about as attractive as the back end of a bus].

2002, Tanuki the Raccoon-dog, “I drove a...”, in uk.rec.cars.modifications (Usenet):

You surely can't be comparing Alicia Witt with Sarah Fergusson? Alicia Witt looks stunning, while the duchess of Pork looks like the back end of a bus.

2004, David Platt, “DUCHESS OF YORK NUDE”, in uk.politics.misc (Usenet):

‘You’ve got a face like the back end of a bus,’ he spat, his eyes raw and burning. Then he grinned, his yellow-stained teeth spreading across his mush [...]

2005, Will Hadcroft, Anne Droyd And Century Lodge:

As I once told him, being British, looking like the back end of a bus or weighing 30 stone, was utterly irrelevant to the posting i made

2006, "sheelagh", "Bookie: Did you adopt the blind cat?", rec.pats.cats.health+behav http://groups.google.com/group/rec.pets.cats.health+behav/browse_thread/thread/d6ce604519cdefbb/a5f305d13e68a960?lnk=st&q=%22the+back+end+of+a+bus%22&rnum=10#a5f305d13e68a960

(simile, colloquial, British, derogatory) Very unattractive.


sell like hot cakes

en-verb

sell like hot cakes (third-person singular simple present sells like hot cakes, present participle selling like hot cakes, simple past and past participle sold like hot cakes)

sells like hot cakes (present singular third-person)
selling like hot cakes (participle present)
sold like hot cakes (participle past)
sold like hot cakes (past)

desc

→ Telugu: హాట్ కేకు (hāṭ kēku, “popular item”)

During a power outage, candles sell like hot cakes.

You're living in a disco / Forget about the rat race / Let's do the Milkshake / Selling like a hotcake

Geffen employees confirm that about half of the initial run of forty-six thousand [copies of Nevermind] went to the Northwest, where it sold like hot cakes.

2003, Jim Berkenstadt, Charles R. Cross, Nevermind: Nirvana:

These units will sell like hot cakes for $400000 apiece. Our cost will be $250000. It's a regular gold mine.

2005, G. Timothy Haight, Daniel Singer, The real estate investment handbook:

CALENDARS featuring local men willing to get their kit off for charity are selling like hot cakes after hitting the market this week.

2009 November 27, “Calendar boys get their tops off”, in John o'Groat Journal:

I sold 12 trout specials yesterday, they sold like hot cakes.

2012, Cosmo Knight, The Day After the Great Trout Run:

(intransitive, idiomatic) To be sold in large numbers quickly.

се продава како алва (se prodava kako alva, literally “to sell like halva”)

с руками оторвать (s rukami otorvatʹ, literally “to tear away with the hands”)


like shooting fish in a barrel

En-au-like shooting fish in a barrel.ogg

Opponents contend that the lumbering creatures are so easy to shoot that a moose hunt is a slaughter, not a sport. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel," they say.

1982 April 2, Associated Press, “Entrants Gamble For Chance To Stalk Big Game”, in The Dispatch, USA, retrieved 2012-07-18, page 20:

For a photographer, shooting twins at the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, must be like shooting fish in a barrel.

2003 October 24, Ken Johnson, “Art in Review: Mary Ellen Mark—‘Twins’”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-07-18:

Standing on those long straight roads with the speed detection gun was like shooting fish in a barrel, somebody said.

2005 March 29, John S. Doyle, “We're all sport crazy... but for all the wrong sports”, in Irish Independent, Ireland, retrieved 2012-07-18:

(simile) Extremely easy; sometimes with a connotation of triumph but at other times with a connotation of being meaningless and unsatisfying.


American as apple pie

Josh Billings is as American as apple pie or the corncob pipe.

1932, Cyril Clemens, Josh Billings, Yankee Humorist, page 178:

The book is as American as apple pie, or spoon bread, or baked beans, and its influence must have been great during those times.

1934, Jerry Wallace, A Parson at Large: Being an Account of Mason Locke Weems:

(US, simile) Having characteristics considered quintessential to American life; very American.


like rats from a sinking ship

like a rat from a sinking ship (alternative)

(simile) Quickly but futilely, away from a failing project.


know like the back of one's hand

en-verb

know<,,knew,known> like the back of one's hand

know like the back of one's hand (third-person singular simple present knows like the back of one's hand, present participle knowing like the back of one's hand, simple past knew like the back of one's hand, past participle known like the back of one's hand)

knows like the back of one's hand (present singular third-person)
knowing like the back of one's hand (participle present)
knew like the back of one's hand (past)
known like the back of one's hand (participle past)
know like the palm of one's hand (alternative)

En-au-know like the back of one's hand.ogg

He knows the software like the back of his hand, and can often solve problems over the phone, without looking.

"I can; know that country like the back of my hand. You haven't got a road map, I suppose. Well, no matter, I'll give you the lay of the land without it."

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 218:

“I know American audiences like the back of my hand,” she says, sitting in a dressing room in London at the end of a long day of rehearsals; […]

2024 April 27, Tim Bano, quoting Sanaz Toossi, “It's a play born of rage”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 15:

(transitive, simile) To be intimately knowledgeable about something.

etwas kennen wie die eigene Westentasche

знать как свои́ пять па́льцев (znatʹ kak svoí pjatʹ pálʹcev, literally “to know like one's five fingers”)


herd cats

herd cats (third-person singular simple present herds cats, present participle herding cats, simple past and past participle herded cats)

herds cats (present singular third-person)
herding cats (participle present)
herded cats (participle past)
herded cats (past)

Formed of herd + cat, perhaps in reference to domesticated cats’ solitary nature. Possibly from the opening scene of Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979). Shepherds are discussing sheep and the topic strays to cats: "Can you imagine a herds of cats waiting to be sheared? Meow! Meow! Woo hoo hoo." Earliest usage unknown, but the idiom is attested from the 1980s.

Managing volunteers from fourteen different organizations is like herding cats.

Finally, you present this vision and your goals to the authors; after that it’s like herding cats. Authors have their own perspectives on their topics, their own notions about what constitutes significant issues and adequate coverage

1983, Paul Henry Mussen, Handbook of Child Psychology, volume 4, page viii:

Trying to predict the future of office automation is like trying to herd cats. Things go in so many directions, you end up with a fist full of air.

1987, Lance Brilliantine, “Dual color copying”, in Office Administration and Automation, page 20:

The job of leader has often been compared to herding cats. It is not easy, but Senator DASCHLE did an outstanding job.

2004, Kent Conrad, “Tributes to Thomas A. Daschle”, in Proceedings in the Senate (US Senate):

It must feel like herding cats, with 20-or-so members and with the big five franchise owning groups.

2021 January 13, Paul Clifton, “Delivering a basis for rail changes”, in RAIL. issue 922, page 32:

(idiomatic, in similes) To attempt to control the uncontrollable; to attempt to manage a great many unruly factors or people to a single end.

(einen Sack voll) Flöhe hüten

to attempt to control the uncontrollable


kick like a mule

kick like a mule (third-person singular simple present kicks like a mule, present participle kicking like a mule, simple past and past participle kicked like a mule)

kicks like a mule (present singular third-person)
kicking like a mule (participle present)
kicked like a mule (participle past)
kicked like a mule (past)

This Russian drink tastes foul, but it kicks like a mule.

Now Lucy looks sweet cause he dresses like a queen
But he can kick like a mule, it's a real mean team

1972, David Bowie, “All the Young Dudes”, performed by Mott the Hoople:

(simile, informal) To have a very strong physical effect.


like a duck takes to water

as a duck takes to water (alternative)
like a duck to water (alternative)

She started skating and learned quickly, like a duck takes to water.

(simile, idiomatic) Very naturally; without effort.


cry like a baby

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

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

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


off like a bride's nightie

en-adj

off like a bride's nightie (not comparable)

A reference to the supposed eagerness of just-married couples to have sexual intercourse on the night of their wedding. Australian from 1960.

Just before it was to be his shout, he was off like a bride′s nightie.

Missing because I′d been happy and didn′t need him, though I went to him fast enough when the happiness was over. Off like a bride′s nightie.

1995, James Mitchell, So Far from Home, published 1997, page 216:

‘[…]Tell me, are you still intending to join the armed forces?’
‘Soon as ever I can, judge,’ Joe told him firmly, ‘I′ll be off like a bride′s nightie.’

1998, Harry Bowling, As Time Goes By, unnumbered page:

‘S′not that,’ she said, ‘It′s just if I give in so soon he′ll be off like a bride′s nightie. So I have to get it elsewhere, if you know what I mean.[…]’

2004, Mina Ford, My Fake Wedding, page 154:

(Australia, slang, simile) Making a rapid departure; away.

(Australia, horse racing) Moving quickly and resolutely.

Making a rapid departure; away.
Moving quickly and resolutely.


mad as a cut snake

as mad as a cut snake (alternative)
mad as cut snakes (alternative)

I′m feeling slightly less furious than I was earlier, but I′m still about as mad as a cut snake.

2005, Melody Carlson, Fool's Gold: Color Me Consumed, unnumbered page:

Sutcliffe went in hard, did everything to provoke him. Got him as mad as a cut snake.

2009, Robert Sims, Tropic of Death, page 346:

“Dad would be mad as a cut snake if he knew what you were doing,” Cal warned. “He hates Harry Fraser. All the Frasers.”

2009, Kate Hoffmann, Harlequin Blaze: The Mighty Quinns: Callum, unnumbered page:

2010, Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, page 192,
“ […] I know he wasn′t exactly Prince Charming, but for someone to kill him—at my very own zoo, no less—well, it makes me mad as a cut snake.”

“[…]Mad as a cut snake, he was. Good thing he didn′t have a gun. He′d a shot all three of the blokes and the snake too. Probably shot me just for laughing.”

2010, Robin Easton, Naked in Eden: My Adventure and Awakening in the Australian Rainforest, page 129:

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

“Trackless,” Sean muttered, “there′s a man over there planting a chopstick.″
“Him? That′s Lurker. Mad as a cut snake.”

1986, Mike Shanley, Strela, unnumbered page:

‘I have to tell you,’ he continued with his leaden and yet fascinating sincerity, ‘that you are a most exquisite and intelligent woman and I would like to court you. I′m no seducer or casual fornicator. It′s against my religion. If all this sounds mad as a cut snake, so be it. I was under necessity to say it. Would you accept my card?’

2000, Thomas Keneally, Bettany′s Book, page 9:

— Did you see him perform?
— From the wings. Some Coward, a smidge of Richard the Third. Then R and J, with his missus, Vivian Leigh. Mad as a cut snake, but a wonderful actress.

2003, David Geary, A Man of the People, New Zealand: Victoria University Press, page 69:

What made her attractive was that she was cerebral as well as beautiful, a rare combination in movies, then as now. She was also as mad as a cut snake, which only added to her allure. In retrospect, I′d call her an el primo flake.

2010, Kate Jennings, Trouble: Evolution of a Radical, Selected Writings 1970-2010, page 70:

(Australia, simile, colloquial) Crazy; eccentric.


queer as a clockwork orange

Cockney phrase from East London indicating something bizarre internally, but appearing natural and normal on the surface. Author Anthony Burgess appropriated the phrase for the title of his novella A Clockwork Orange.

He sauntered the flunkied restaurant, queer /As a clockwork orange and not scared. /God, I was grateful for the nights we shared.

1997, Tony Harrison, quoted in Sandie Byrne's introduction to Tony Harrison: Loiner (ed Sandie Byrne, 1997)

(simile) Unusually camp, unusually homosexual.


get on like a house on fire

en-verb

get<,,got,got􂀿UK􂁀:gotten􂀿US􂁀> on like a house on fire

get on like a house on fire (third-person singular simple present gets on like a house on fire, present participle getting on like a house on fire, simple past got on like a house on fire, past participle (UK) got on like a house on fire or (US) gotten on like a house on fire)

gets on like a house on fire (present singular third-person)
getting on like a house on fire (participle present)
got on like a house on fire (past)
got on like a house on fire (UK participle past)
gotten on like a house on fire (US participle past)

By metaphor, reflecting the notion that housefires are archetypally roaringly quick and robust.

Those two met last Saturday at the party, and because they were both into juggling they got on like a house on fire.

They've obviously never met before, but are getting on like a house on fire. Both are well-spoken and versed in the Queen's English.

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 52:

(simile) To immediately start a good relationship with someone.


drunk as Chloe

Possibly a reference to the Chloe mentioned in the poetry of Matthew Prior.
* Australian vernacular usage (reported by Partridge and others) is influenced by, and often thought to refer to, the well-known nude painting Chloé, which was hung briefly (in 1883) at the National Gallery of Victoria, and later (from 1908) at the Young and Jacksons hotel, Melbourne.

1823, Drink, entry in Jon Badcock, Slang: A Dictionary of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, the Pit, or Bon-Ton, page 71,
Drunk''' as Chloe; she must have been an uproarious lass.

Sorry to observe that Seymour had ‘been at his tricks,’ and was as drunk as Chloe ! — as the saying is ; but as to who Chloe was, my reading never informed me.

1840, Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith, “The Journal of Old Barnes, the Pantaloon: On a trip to Paris, in 1830”, in Bentley's Miscellany, volume 5, page 466:

They were all as drunk as Chloe, and I being a little in a sympathetic condition, they took me into their confidence.

1859, Melbourne Punch, volume 8, page 40:

They passed many merry-makers homeward bound, many of them following a tortuous course, for the Scottish toper gives way first in the legs, the Southron in the other extremity, and thus between them could be constructed a man wholly sober and another as drunk as Chloe.

1896, J. M. Barrie, Sentimental Tommy, The Echo Library, published 2007, page 99:

It was a regular thing for many of the clergy to be as drunk as Chloe on Saturday night, get through their sermon on Sunday morning, and get drunk and sober again before the evening.

1904, New Zealand House of Representatives, chapter L, in Parliamentary Debates, page 53:

(UK, Australia, colloquial, simile) Very drunk.


like the new time

He was running like the new time when the dog chased him.

(simile, colloquial, Ireland) Furiously or vigorously, repeatedly.


dead as a doorknob

Possibly from a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the expression dead as a doornail. See usage notes below.

I tried the flashlight, but the battery was as dead as a doorknob.

I found the mouse who lived in our wall, lying on his back with his feet in the air—as dead as a doorknob.

(simile) Entirely, unquestionably or certainly dead.


sleep like a baby

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

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

(simile) To sleep very well, especially peacefully.


easy as pie

"Easy as pie," replied he, eagerly. […] What Dick called easy as pie was the hardest work I ever did. I lay flat on my back, bound hand and foot, and it was necessary to jerk my body along the log till my hands should be under the knife.

Come make my dreams, honey hard as it seems, loving me is as easy as pie.

лесно ко боза (lesno ko boza, literally “as easy as boza”)

про́ще па́реной ре́пы (próšče párenoj répy, literally “easier than stewed turnip”)

раз плю́нуть (raz pljúnutʹ, literally “to spit once”)

как два па́льца обосса́ть (kak dva pálʹca obossátʹ, literally “like pissing on two fingers”)


make out like a bandit

make out like a bandit (third-person singular simple present makes out like a bandit, present participle making out like a bandit, simple past and past participle made out like a bandit)

makes out like a bandit (present singular third-person)
making out like a bandit (participle present)
made out like a bandit (participle past)
made out like a bandit (past)
make out like bandits (alternative)

Somebody must be making out like a bandit if they have managed to sell a $50 product for $500 like that!

(idiomatic, informal) To profit greatly; to get an excessively good deal


fit as a fiddle

This is excellent ynfayth, as fit as a Fiddle: […]

1598, [William Haughton], English-men for My Money: Or, a Pleasant Comedy, Called, A Woman will Haue Her Will, London: Imprinted at London by W[illiam] White, dwelling in Cow-lane, published 1616, →OCLC:

You wake up, feeling as fit as a fiddle; you look at the window and see the sun, and thank Heaven for a fine day.

1915 September 3, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 2, in Something New (Project Gutenberg; EBook #2042), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 6 September 2008 (Project Gutenberg version), →OCLC:

Icelanders will assure you that their economy is really as fit as a fiddle, and it is true that the country does produce a tidy budget surplus.

2008 April 10, Alexander Jung, Christoph Pauly, “Crashing the party of Icelandic prosperity”, in Spiegel Online, archived from the original on 2015-01-08:

(simile, colloquial) Perfectly fit; in excellent condition or health.

בָּרִיא כַּשּׁוֹר m (barí kasshór, literally “healthy as a bull”)

здоров, как бык (zdorov, kak byk, literally “healthy as a bull”)

zdrav kao dren (respective to health; literally “healthy as a dogwood”)


hard as nails

(simile, idiomatic) Very unsympathetic; callous

(simile, idiomatic) Able to endure difficulties; tough


snug as a bug in a rug

"Yes – living here as snug as a bug in a rug," returned Tidkins, chuckling as if he considered the fact to be an excellent joke.

1846, George W.M. Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, volume 2, London: George Vickers, page 389:

"Come to think of it, it must have been inspiration that put me off the main road that night. Otherwise, instead of being here, where would I have been? Half-way to Sydney by now, dead broke and dead to the world. As it is, here I am, snug as a bug in a rug."

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 74:

(simile, colloquial) Very cosy and comfortable.

jobb/kényelmesebb helye nem is lehetne (már)

ка́к у Христа́ за па́зухой (kak u khrista za pazukhoi, literally “like at Christ's chest”)

тепло́, светло́, и му́хи не куса́ют (t'eplo, sv'etlo, i mukhi ne kusayut, literally “It's warm and light, the flies don't bite”)

как до́ма (kag doma, literally “like (at) home”)


stick out like a sore thumb

stick out like a sore thumb (third-person singular simple present sticks out like a sore thumb, present participle sticking out like a sore thumb, simple past and past participle stuck out like a sore thumb)

sticks out like a sore thumb (present singular third-person)
sticking out like a sore thumb (participle present)
stuck out like a sore thumb (participle past)
stuck out like a sore thumb (past)

Don't wear a business suit to that party; you'll stick out like a sore thumb.

The parsnip, stilton and chestnut combination may taste good, but it's not terribly decorative. In fact, dull's the word, a lingering adjectival ghost of nut roasts past that I'm keen to banish from the table. Mary Berry wraps her version in strips of chargrilled aubergine but, although it looks rather smart, I worry that something so Mediterranean will stick out like a sore thumb on the plate, given that many vegetarians want to enjoy the same roast potatoes, sprouts and sauces as everyone else. Instead, inspired by the stuffed cabbage rolls eaten at Christmas in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, I use blanched savoy cabbage leaves to wrap my parsnippy parcel, adding a touch of festive greenery to the dish.

2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in The Guardian:

(simile) To be very noticeably (and undesirably or humorously) different; to be prominently out of place; to be particularly obtrusive or conspicuous (usually unintentionally); to attract unwanted attention or notice.


drink like a fish

drink like a fish (third-person singular simple present drinks like a fish, present participle drinking like a fish, simple past drank like a fish, past participle drunk like a fish)

drinks like a fish (present singular third-person)
drinking like a fish (participle present)
drank like a fish (past)
drunk like a fish (participle past)

(simile) To drink (especially alcohol) heavily and in excess.

пие како смок (pie kako smok, literally “drink like a whipsnake”)


like hot cakes

These new toys should sell like hot cakes.

(simile, colloquial) Quickly, especially by purchase or consumption.


flat as a pancake

en-adj

flat as a pancake (comparative more flat as a pancake, superlative most flat as a pancake)

more flat as a pancake (comparative)
most flat as a pancake (superlative)

If something that heavy landed on him, he'd be squished flat as a pancake.

(simile) Particularly or extremely flat.


hot as hell

(simile, colloquial) Extremely hot (all senses)


cute as a bug's ear

LISA: I'm an ugmo.
HOMER: Now, that's not true. You're cute as a bug's ear.
LISA: Fathers have to say that stuff.

1992, "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (episode of The Simpsons animated TV series)


grin like a Cheshire cat

en-verb

grin like a Cheshire cat (third-person singular simple present grins like a Cheshire cat, present participle grinning like a Cheshire cat, simple past and past participle grinned like a Cheshire cat)

grins like a Cheshire cat (present singular third-person)
grinning like a Cheshire cat (participle present)
grinned like a Cheshire cat (participle past)
grinned like a Cheshire cat (past)

Attested since at least the 1780s. The reason why Cheshire was combined with cat is disputed: see here for more information.

John ended the set with a beautiful serve, an ace, and could not help grinning like a Cheshire cat.

CHESHIRE CAT. He grins like a Cheshire cat; said of any one who shows his teeth and gums in laughing.

1788, Francis Grose, A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue, 2nd corrected and enlarged edition, London:

Lo, like a Cheshire cat our court will grin.

1792, John Wolcot (under the pseudonym Peter Pindar), Pair of Lyric Epistles:

‘It’s almost as if we’ve gone silly with happiness,’ said Marcus two days later. ‘Everyone in the house going round grinning like a lot of Cheshire Cats! The family I mean.’ ‘And Jess,’ said Kitto quickly. ‘Oh well, Jess is as good as family,’ said Fanny comfortably. Jessamy said nothing, but she looked up quickly and her smile would have rivalled any Cheshire Cat.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 127:

(simile) To smile broadly, especially in a self-satisfied way.

vigyorog, mint a fakutya/vadkörte/tejbetök

улыба́ться до уше́й (ulybátʹsja do ušéj, literally “smile up to one's ears”)


quack like a duck

quack like a duck (third-person singular simple present quacks like a duck, present participle quacking like a duck, simple past and past participle quacked like a duck)

quacks like a duck (present singular third-person)
quacking like a duck (participle present)
quacked like a duck (participle past)
quacked like a duck (past)

If it quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

(simile) To appear to be exactly what one is.


sing like a bird

sing like a bird (third-person singular simple present sings like a bird, present participle singing like a bird, simple past sang like a bird, past participle sung like a bird)

sings like a bird (present singular third-person)
singing like a bird (participle present)
sang like a bird (past)
sung like a bird (participle past)

When she had gone on a little, she began to sing like a bird, her sweet young voice rising on the air as if it had wings […]

1882, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 131, page 709:

(simile) To have a beautiful singing voice.

Totila will sing like a bird to the cops once I show the photocopies, […]

2004, Kasey Michaels, Maggie Without a Clue, page 397:

(simile) To divulge secrets with little coercion.


float like a butterfly

float like a butterfly (third-person singular simple present floats like a butterfly, present participle floating like a butterfly, simple past and past participle floated like a butterfly)

floats like a butterfly (present singular third-person)
floating like a butterfly (participle present)
floated like a butterfly (participle past)
floated like a butterfly (past)

(colloquial, simile) To move effortlessly and in an agile fashion.


sting like a bee

sting like a bee (third-person singular simple present stings like a bee, present participle stinging like a bee, simple past and past participle stung like a bee)

stings like a bee (present singular third-person)
stinging like a bee (participle present)
stung like a bee (participle past)
stung like a bee (past)

(colloquial, simile) to deliver a powerful punch


eat like a horse

eat like a horse (third-person singular simple present eats like a horse, present participle eating like a horse, simple past ate like a horse, past participle eaten like a horse)

eats like a horse (present singular third-person)
eating like a horse (participle present)
ate like a horse (past)
eaten like a horse (participle past)

(colloquial, simile) To eat large amounts of food. (connoting a large quantity of food, but not one of gluttony or sloppiness)


like the wind

At any rate, in my experience, they could run like the wind, but longer and heavier trains slowly but surely became too much for them.

1947 July and August, “Notes and News: Caledonian Reminiscences”, in Railway Magazine, page 256:

Although we took our eight bogies along to Whitstable at 60 m.p.h., and made a clean start from there, after Herne Bay the engine primed badly on Blacksole Bank and nearly stopped before we got over the top. Then we ran like the wind across the marshes with half-regulator, 30 per cent cut-off, and the engine blowing off.

1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 220:

How she would fly like the wind, up that road in front of the house, and away.

2006, Bridgette Z. Savage, Fly Like the Wind, →ISBN:

Even if I don't run like the wind I have my own bag of tricks.

2011, V.C. Andrews, Petals on the Wind, →ISBN:

2011, David Roberts, Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, →ISBN:

(simile) changeably, freely and at liberty.

The Spirit Of God is like the wind. Note well that his operation is unexpected. The wind bloweth where it listeth, so that thou knowest not what wind to expect.

1889, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit:

(simile) invisibly, mysteriously, unpredictably.


fuck like rabbits

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

fucks like rabbits (present singular third-person)
fucking like rabbits (participle present)
fucked like rabbits (participle past)
fucked like rabbits (past)

man, my girlfriend and I fuck like rabbits. It's great.

(vulgar, simile) To have copious amounts of coitus.


eat like a bird

eat like a bird (third-person singular simple present eats like a bird, present participle eating like a bird, simple past ate like a bird, past participle eaten like a bird)

eats like a bird (present singular third-person)
eating like a bird (participle present)
ate like a bird (past)
eaten like a bird (participle past)

(colloquial, simile) To eat in small amounts rather than in a single full meal.


watch like a hawk

watch like a hawk (third-person singular simple present watches like a hawk, present participle watching like a hawk, simple past and past participle watched like a hawk)

watches like a hawk (present singular third-person)
watching like a hawk (participle present)
watched like a hawk (participle past)
watched like a hawk (past)

(transitive, simile) To observe (someone or something) closely and keenly.


hung like a horse

(simile, colloquial, vulgar, usually of a man) Having a large penis.


like a cat on a hot tin roof

A simile developed from the behaviour of a cat observed on a hot tin roof.

(simile, colloquial, chiefly US) Jumpy, nervous.


as hell

It's cold as hell in here!

It was icy as hell on the road that morning, and as I put my brakes on, the van just kept going.

Kim's phony as hell.

The neighbor's dog is loud as hell.

With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

Two thousand years of waiting for their Messiah, and they're still persistent as hell.

Just annoying as hell, as obnoxious as hell, and as effective as hell.

Even though he was frightened for them, even though he was scared as hell to fail them, it felt so good to know these people cared when he hurt!

2004, Teralee E. M. Bird, Seraphim Trilogy Book One; What the Herald Angel Sang:

(postpositive, simile, somewhat vulgar) To a great extent or degree; very.


naked as a jaybird

naked as a jay (alternative)
naked as a jay-bird (alternative)

Never the prude, Eliza walked out into the dorm common room naked as a jaybird and grabbed her forgotten towel.

(simile, colloquial) Stark naked; nude; especially, naked in a public setting and without embarrassment.


like nobody's business

like it's nobody's business (alternative)

His customers reimburse him for the equipment he buys, but he seems to spend money like nobody's business.

(simile, colloquial) In an extreme manner; excessively; like crazy.


like a hawk

If you find one you like, plan to guard it like a hawk until the purchase is finalized.

(simile) With particular vigilance or attention, implying sharp vision.


like gangbusters

From the American true crime radio drama Gang Busters (1936–1957), which opened abruptly with loud sound effects of police sirens, machine guns, etc.

"Put an actress in knock-out clothes and she'll come through like gangbusters."

1954 December 9, Hedda Hopper, “Chandler, Baxter 'Spoilers' Costars”, in Los Angeles Times, page B12:

Chromebooks are selling like gangbusters, but the party could be coming to an end [title]

2021 July 14, Paul Lilly, “Chromebooks are selling like gangbusters, but the party could be coming to an end”, in PC Gamer:

Wearing its politics heavier on its sleeve is Being the Ricardos, a late-breaking Amazon Studios film from Aaron Sorkin that played like gangbusters at industry screenings in New York and Los Angeles.

2022 January 7, Richard Lawson, “The Best-Picture Race: Sure Things, Crowd-Pleasers, and the Late-Breaking Potential Upsets”, in Vanity Fair:

(simile, colloquial, originally US) Vigorously, rapidly, zealously, or forcibly; in a manner which has considerable impact.


like a bat out of hell

He came tearing around the corner like a bat out of hell and nearly ran us over.

Appellee testified that "the train came through like a bat out of hell," and while this language is probably highly figurative, it nevertheless might tend to indicate that the train was running at a very high speed.

1904, The Texas Civil Appeals Reports: Cases Argued and Determined in the Courts of Civil Appeals of the State of Texas, volume 32, page 594:

The Paranoids cast off, backed the Godzilla II out from the pier, turned and with a concerted whoop took off like a bat out of hell, nearly sending Di Presso over the fantail.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 38:

Like a bat out of hell
I'll be gone when the morning comes.

1977, Jim Steinman, “Bat Out of Hell”, in Bat Out of Hell, performed by Meat Loaf:

(simile) With crazy or excessive intensity or speed.


like it's going out of style

as if it had been going out of style (alternative)
as if it is going out of style (alternative)
as if it's going out of style (alternative)
as if it was going out of style (alternative)
as if it were going out of style (alternative)
like it is going out of style (alternative)
like it were going out of style (alternative)

A reference to someone engaging in an activity intensely, as if afraid that it will become unavailable or unpopular before they can get the most out of it.

Jason has been drinking like it’s going out of style.

to spend money like it’s going out of style

(simile, informal) Of engaging in an activity: enthusiastically; to an excessive degree.


right as a trivet

Initially as steady as a trivet, implying stability.

I'm all right, governor; right as a trivet.

1858, Anthony Trollope, chapter 25, in Doctor Thorne, London: Chapman and Hall:

(simile) In a perfect state; thoroughly sound.


larger than life

en-adj

larger than life (comparative form only)

Miss Snevellicci's papa looked very big indeed—several sizes larger than life.

1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 30, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:

At uniform intervals round the base of the pedestal, four naked figures in chains, somewhat larger than life, are seated in various attitudes of humiliation and despair.

1849, Herman Melville, “With His Prosy Old Guide-book, He Takes a Prosy Stroll”, in Redburn: His First Voyage. […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 197:

Of greater size or magnitude than is naturally or normally the case; of larger size than life-size.

plus grand que nature

of greater size or magnitude than is natural


like riding a bike

(simile) Said of skill that, once learned, is never forgotten.


out like a light

Once she received anesthesia, she was out like a light.

(simile, colloquial) Asleep or unconscious, particularly if this has occurred suddenly and the sleep is deep.


white as snow

At last with creeping crooked pace forth came / An old old man, with beard as white as snow, / That on a staffe his feeble steps did frame,

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:

Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.

1830, Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary Had a Little Lamb:


eat like a pig

en-verb

eat like a pig (third-person singular simple present eats like a pig, present participle eating like a pig, simple past ate like a pig, past participle eaten like a pig)

eats like a pig (present singular third-person)
eating like a pig (participle present)
ate like a pig (past)
eaten like a pig (participle past)

(colloquial, simile) To chew noisily, with one's mouth open, especially while consuming large quantities greedily.


stuffed like a turkey

(idiomatic, simile) Very full from overeating.


drunk as a skunk

Although skunk might refer to the aroma of some alcoholic beverage, the rhyme seems to have motivated this idiom.


mad as a hatter

/ˌmæd æz ə ˈhætə/

/ˌmæd æz ə ˈhætɚ/

First recorded 1829. Of uncertain origin, though usually explained as referring to hat-makers suffering from Erethism due to handling mercury-contaminated felt. Derivation from Old English ātor (“poison”) or its descendant English atter lacks evidence.

He's a very good fellow, but as mad as a hatter. He's called Madman, you know. And never was such a fellow for getting all sorts of rum things about him. He tamed two snakes last half, and used to carry them about in his pocket; and I'll be bound he's got some hedgehogs and rats in his cupboard now, and no one knows what besides.

1857, [Thomas Hughes], chapter III, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC:

"I think he’d be as mad as a hatter at your insinuation that he would invite any of his wives, if all I hear of him is true; and what I’ve heard, Wolsey has told me."

1895, John Kendrick Bangs, chapter 7, in A House-Boat on the Styx:

I think Adam Wayne, who is as mad as a hatter, worth more than a million of you. But you have the force, and, I admit, the common sense, and he is lost.

1904, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “The Experiment of Mr. Buck”, in The Napoleon of Notting Hill, London; New York, N.Y.: John Lane, The Bodley Head, →OCLC, book III, page 176:

Once Lord John passed across his newspaper, upon the margin of which he had written in pencil, "Poor devil! Mad as a hatter." No doubt it was very eccentric, and yet the performance struck me as extraordinarily clever and amusing.

1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Blurring of the Lines”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 31:

Sometimes, I feel sure he is as mad as a hatter; and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is method in his madness.

1920 October, Agatha Christie, “The Arrest”, in The Mysterious Affair at Styles […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1927, page 218:

If you ask me that woman's as mad as a hatter.

1939, Agatha Christie, chapter 11, in And Then There Were None:


like a cat in a strange garret

Well, mass'r, I can't say for Lucinda and Dinah, but I should feel like a cat in a strange garret.

1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC:

1862 Annual Report of the Secretary of the Vermont Board of Education
Mothers cannot conveniently leave home to get about, and fathers, to use their own expression, "feel like a cat in a strange garret," when screwed up in one of the seats to the school house.

(US, simile) Having a feeling of uncertainty and misapprehension due to being in an unfamiliar situation.


pure as the driven snow

en-adj

pure as the driven snow (not comparable)

According to Gary Martin, the term refers to "snow that has blown into drifts and is untrodden and clean". He also notes records of the similar phrase "white as driven snow" since 1611.

pure as driven snow (alternative)
pure as the driven (alternative)

(simile) Extremely pure; totally pure (typically "pure" in the sense of "virtuous").


drop like flies

en-verb

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

drops like flies (present singular third-person)
dropping like flies (participle present)
dropped like flies (participle past)
dropped like flies (past)
drop off like flies (alternative)
die like flies (alternative)

Seymour: Audrey, quick! We've got to do an emergency [flower] arrangement.
[…]
Mr. Mushnik: The Shivas are our most important funereal account. A big, enormous family, they're dropping off like flies!

1986, Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film)

Hit 'em with a left, a left, and a right / Got 'em dropping like flies with the stars in their eyes

2017, Stray From The Path, “Good Night Alt-Right”:

(simile, of members of a group, especially soldiers) To die en masse, one after the other.

simile; especially soldiers; simile; especially soldiers


crystal clear

en-adj

crystal clear (comparative more crystal clear or (rare) crystal clearer, superlative most crystal clear or (rare) crystal clearest)

more crystal clear (comparative)
crystal clearer (comparative rare)
most crystal clear (superlative)
crystal clearest (rare superlative)
crystal-clear (alternative)

From Middle English cristal cleer. Emphatic form of clear in visual and metaphorical “understandable” senses. Compare clear as a bell (“very clear (of sound)”).

Reread through the manual until the instructions are crystal clear in your head.

Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings?

1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

At a very basic level, technology almost always supplants some level of humanity. Not only does machine power replace manpower, but it distances, if not isolates, us from each other and from reality in the process. / See for yourself. Pick a technology. Any technology. / The crystal clearest example is probably the advance from cannon balls to atom bombs.

1997 October 29, Michael Ashcraft, “High tech: Devil made us do it!”, in The Rock Island Argus, 148th year, number 12, Rock Island, Ill., page B1, column 1:

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

2019 September 23, Greta Thunberg, speech at the United Nations

(idiomatic, simile) Completely clear (in various senses).

Without ambiguity or doubt; completely understood.

The picture on this TV is crystal clear – you can see every grain of sand!

The key is that only the original negative can produce the crystal clearest photographic image.

2007, David Rudd Cycleback, Judging the Authenticity of Photographs: The Basics for Collectors, Cycleback.com, →ISBN, page 111:

Visually clear, a sharp image, of high acuity.

On the lowest level are broad meadow lands, through which wanders a stream of the most crystal clear water imaginable.

1893, Charles F[orbes] Warner, editor, Picturesque Berkshire, part I (North), Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing Company; Springfield, Mass.: The W. F. Adams Company, page 84:

Near by, where the crystal clear River Llugwy is crossed by a bridge, stands a small and ancient church built of massive, irregular boulders.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 100:

It is these beliefs that set Clearview Stoves apart and set their company on a quest to design and build a stove that would set new standards and quite simply be the best. Their quest led to a stove with traditional styling, that is simple to use and highly efficient with a wonderful view of the flames behind crystal clear glass.

2017 October 4, “Guy Crabb Plumbing & Heating”, in View from Weymouth, Weymouth, page 25:

Jimmy and Ravi put together fine silver cutlery, crystal clear glasses and oriental decorated crockery.

2017, Steven Baker, chapter 16, in Colour Sergeant Chesney V.C., Kibworth, Leics.: The Book Guild Ltd, →ISBN, page 132:

Completely clear (in various senses).
Very translucent or transparent.

Whence it comes that even in the crystal clearest weather Madeira’s sunshine spectrum is inordinately full of water-vapour stopped lines, the sun’s direct rays, though to general observation luminous enough, are signally deprived of their proper scorching heat, and the temperature range of the climate is immensely reduced for both the day and the year; […]

1882 May 1, C[harles] Piazzi Smyth, Madeira Meteorologic: Being a Paper on the Above Subject Read Before the Royal Society, Edinburgh, on 1st of May 1882, Edinburgh: David Douglas, pages 31–32:

Jones Beach Pond on Long Island, so close to New York that the tops of the Empire State and the Chrysler Building can be seen on the horizon on crystal clear days, is one of the best shore-bird resorts I know.

1948, Roger Coty Peterson, Birds Over America, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, page 309:

On crystal clear days, such as those during or just following a Santa Ana windstorm, the Salton Sea can be spotted from this area.

1965, Russ Leadabrand, A Guidebook to the Sunset Ranges of Southern California: […], Los Angeles, Calif.: The Ward Ritchie Press, →LCCN, page 127:

Completely clear (in various senses).
Having no clouds.

There is still space available for the STARFIRE BAND performance featuring the crystal clearest, cleanest Pittsburgh Born and Bred Alto Vocals of the sensational Miss Judi Figel in our Summer Street Dance and Al Fresco Dining (inside if rain) series Music & Dancing 7-11 P.M

1999 July 30, “D’Imperio’s”, in Weekend Mag (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Pittsburgh, Pa., page 33:

With the slightly nasal, melodic whine of Wooten’s crystal clear vocals this song has a catchy sound to it that guarantees that it has potential to be an ear-bug.

2004 March 8, Cameron J. Woods, “‘Bloody lovely’ music: New band worth a little money”, in The Daily Collegian, volume CXIV, number 1, Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Amherst, page 4, column 2:

A truly powerful and versatile unit, crystal clear music is played through a pair of stereo speakers and has RCA line outputs for amplifier or Hi-Fi system integration.

2012, 2012 Engineering & Scientific Catalogue, Jaycar, page 218:

Completely clear (in various senses).
Aurally clear.


blind as a bat

(simile) Nearly totally blind, having a very poor sense of vision


like taking candy from a baby

Taking the money from the safe will be like taking candy from a baby, since I know the combination.


fit as a lop

(simile, colloquial, Geordie) In good health; very fit.


high as a kite

When I'm out walking, I strut my stuff / Yeah, and I'm so strung out / I'm high as a kite, I just might / Stop to check you out

1983, Gordon Gano, “Blister in the Sun”, in Violent Femmes, performed by Violent Femmes:

(simile, colloquial) Very much under the influence of drugs; extremely high.


good as gold

In the sense of high and enduring value, with literal origins in trade (currency exchange and barter), where any given currency or commodity may be worth as much as gold or hyperbolically described as such.

But to be sure baby was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib.

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

(especially UK, of a person, simile) Very well-behaved (especially of a child); very good-hearted (especially of an adult).


drunk as a lord

He gave her a good hidin' an' went to th' Blue Lion an' got as drunk as a lord.

1909, Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden:

"Good many of them drunk as lords," said DuBois of the established merriment of the guests.

1997, Max Crawford, Lords of the Plain : A Novel, University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, page 183:

2001, Ryotaro Shiba, Eileen Kato, Drunk as a Lord: Samurai Stories, Kodansha International, →ISBN:

Then vodka was brought out; the hero of the day would get drunk as a lord and always walked all over the prison, reeling and staggering, trying to show to everyone that he was drunk, that he was “jolly” and so deserving of general respect. Everywhere among the Russian people a certain sympathy is felt for a drunken man; in prison he was positively treated with respect.

2004, Fyofor Dostoyevsky, The House of the Dead:

"How he managed to light it, God knows, for he was as drunk as a lord.

2006, Edward Marston, The Princess of Denmark: An Elizabethan Theater Mystery Featuring Nicholas Bracewell, St. Martin's Minotaur, →ISBN, page 17:


laugh like a drain

en-verb

laugh like a drain (third-person singular simple present laughs like a drain, present participle laughing like a drain, simple past and past participle laughed like a drain)

laughs like a drain (present singular third-person)
laughing like a drain (participle present)
laughed like a drain (participle past)
laughed like a drain (past)

Charles laughs like a drain and empties his champagne glass. “How about some fruit juice and muesli, pumpkin?”

2007, William Brandt, The Book of the Film of the Story of My Life:

(British, simile) To laugh with a loud, coarse sound


sick as a dog

I caught that new strain of flu and for three days I was as sick as a dog.

Ay, but thou knowest he's as uncertain as the wind; and if, instead of quarrelling with me, he should grow fond, he'd make me as sick as a dog.

1797, John Banks, The Albion Queens, or The Death of Mary, Queen of Scots: A Tragedy, J. Bell, page 32:


run like a top

run like a top (third-person singular simple present runs like a top, present participle running like a top, simple past ran like a top, past participle run like a top)

runs like a top (present singular third-person)
running like a top (participle present)
ran like a top (past)
run like a top (participle past)

Derived from comparison to the smooth, balanced manner of the operation of a spinning top.

I've just tuned my car, and now it's running like a top.

(simile, usually of motorized machinery) To operate flawlessly and smoothly.


happy as a lark

Derived from comparison to the cheerful-sounding birdsong of a lark.

She's happy as a lark with her ten dollar pay raise, even though the long-term prospects for the business are not good.

(simile, colloquial) Very happy (sometimes with the extra connotations of being carefree or unaware of grimmer realities).


dead as a doornail

From Middle English ded as dore-nail.
One of the earliest usages in English is in William Langland's poem Piers Plowman A. i. 161 (late 14th century) "Fey withouten fait is febelore þen nouȝt, And ded as a dore-nayl", though it is unlikely this is Langland's invention. It also appears in the English William of Palerne l. 628 "For but ich haue bote of mi bale‥I am ded as dore-nail" and in the alliterative debate poem The Parlement of the Thre Ages "Dede als a dore-nayle doune was he fallen" 65. Both of these texts are of uncertain date, and may predate Langland's usage.
One plausible explanation is that doors were built using only wood boards and hand-forged nails: the nails were long enough to dead nail the (vertical) wooden panels and (horizontal) stretcher boards securely together, so they would not easily pull apart. This was done by pounding the protruding point of the nail over and down into the wood. A nail that was bent in this fashion (and thus not easily pulled out) was said to be "dead", thus dead as a doornail.

I picked up the phone, but the line was dead as a doornail.

We finally found John's cat run over in the next road. He was as dead as a doornail.

Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 1–2:

(simile) Unquestionably dead. Used for both inanimate objects and once living beings.


there's nowt so queer as folk

Well (shakes her head with a little smile as she goes on knitting)—there's nowt so queer as folk! (Shakes her head again.)

1893, Florence Eveleen Eleanore Bell, Elizabeth Robins, Alan's Wife, act 1, scene 1, pages 11–12:

'Theer's Miss So-and-so bin doon here and gaan on ivver so and glen me sic a blackin' as never was, becos I telt her I cudn't git her intil t' auld grund noa-ways, and I telt her she mud just lig in t' new grund and mud be weel content, an aw, for it was a deal sweeter.' 'And,' added old Joe, ' theer's nowt so queer as folk, specially wick uns.'

1911, Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, “Sexton Joe”, in By Fell and Dale at the English Lakes, pages 87–88:

Long ago Aristotle said that you cannot expect to find the same accuracy in all thought as in mathematics—you can only get it as far as the nature of the subject allows. The human factor has to be reckoned with and, as they say in Yorkshire: "There's nowt so queer as folk."

c. 1936, Clement Francis Rogers, “Are Miracles Possible?”, in The Case for Miracle, pages 26–27:

The really remarkable thing about ALBION is the amazing number of people it continues to hoodwink. Nearly 100 subscribers now, all persisting in sending their cash to the Editorial Permanence In Drunkenness Fund. A growth-rate of approximately one new subscriber per week! How you can all tolerate this I cannot understand; however, as they say across the frontier into Yorkshire - 'There's nowt so queer as folk' (being married to a Yorkshirewoman, I subscribe whole-heartedly to this view)

1971 July 1, Don Turnbull, “Ye Second Birthday Editorial”, in Albion, number 30, page 2:

(simile, colloquial, Yorkshire, Lancashire) Nothing is as strange as people can be; people can behave very oddly sometimes.


dead as a dodo

(simile) Undoubtedly and unquestionably dead.


like a kid in a candy store

(simile) Extremely excited as a result of having many options to choose from.


quick as a flash

In reference to the rapidity of flashes of lightning.


as anything

He went over to Nuncombe Putney, as sure as anything;—hired Mrs. Clegg's chaise and pair, and asked for Mrs Trevelyan's house as open as anything.

1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Dartmoor”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 122:

The heroine had five lovers. I'd be satisfied with one, wouldn't you? She was very handsome and she went through great tribulations. She could faint as easy as anything. I'd love to be able to faint, wouldn't you, Marilla? It's so romantic.

1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Delights of Anticipation”, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing), →OCLC, page 130:

[...] he'll be as sorry as anything, he'll put it right.

1998, Maeve Binchy, Tara Road, Dell, →ISBN, page 260:

(simile) To a great degree or extent; very.


as all hell

I'd make her calm down, and then I'd go over to the other side of the living room and take out this cigarette case and light a cigarette, cool as all hell.

1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 265:

Her husband puts both hands on her shoulders, and she rubs her face against first one hand, then the other, sensuous as all hell.

2004, Kate Cann, Spanish Holiday: Or, How I Transformed the Worst Vacation Ever Into the Best Summer of My Life, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 72:

(simile) To a great extent or degree; very.


pleased as Punch

From Punch of the Punch and Judy puppet shows.

He was out, too, when I called at his hotel; but once, I had the good fortune to see him, with his hat curiously on one side, looking as pleased as Punch, and being driven, in an open cab, in the Champs Elysées.

1840, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Paris Sketch Book, volume I, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 41:

"[…]Now,—what'll the old woman say?"
"She'll be pleased as Punch, I should think," said Stanbury.

1869 May, Anthony Trollope, chapter XLIX, in He Knew He Was Right, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC:

Then with a little start of remembrance he said, “Mary, write and give up that school. Stay and help your mother. I’m as pleased as Punch, now I’ve thought of that.”

1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XL, in Middlemarch […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book IV, page 327:

Sally looked at him with her clear eyes. “Aren’t you glad?” she asked again. “I thought you’d be as pleased as Punch.”

1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter CXXII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

(colloquial, simile, dated) Pleased with one's actions or achievements.


nutty as a fruitcake

First use appears c. 1911 or 1912. See cite below.

... and assuming that the defendant's Aunt Jane, in Wilkes-Barre, was as nutty as a fruitcake, and his grandfather, in Oskaloosa, had to wear cotton in his ears ...

1912, G. Graham (publisher), The Saturday Evening Post - Volume 185, Part 1, page 10:

2003, William Safire / NY Times News Service, "Fruitcake: A word that gets the US Congress to call the cops", Taipei Times, 10 Aug, p. 9,
Eugene O'Neill, in his 1914 play, The Movie Man, coined a memorable simile: "We sure are as nutty as a fruitcake or we wouldn't be here."

(simile, colloquial) Behaving in an eccentric, foolish, or kooky manner; very nutty.


busy as a bee

Lord, I have been as busy as a bee ever since dinner!

1811, Jane Austen, chapter 26, in Sense and Sensibility:

Heidi ran backwards and forwards as busy as a bee and brought out everything she could find in the cupboard, for she did not know how to be pleased enough that she could help to entertain the doctor.

1872 — Johanna Spyri, Heidi, ch. 16 (translated)

There was his father bending over his papers at his writing-table before the window, busy as a bee no doubt at some new enthusiasm which was destined to infuriate his neighbours.

1914, A. E. W. Mason, chapter XVIII, in The Witness for the Defence:

(simile, idiomatic) Very active; working constantly.


like crazy

She stayed late, working like crazy to get the project done before the deadline.

(simile, colloquial) To a great or excessive degree; with great speed, output, enthusiasm, etc.


clear as mud

Blend of clear as day + mud. Compare muddy (“unclear, blurry”).

(simile, sarcastic) Unclear; difficult or impossible to understand or interpret.


skinny as a rail

At fifteen, he was already six feet tall and skinny as a rail.

(simile, colloquial) Especially of a person, very skinny.


right as rain

So I went to him [Thackeray d. 1863] while he was at breakfast in Onslow Square, on the morning of the banquet, and asked him if the speech was " all right." "As right as rain," he replied.

1894, George Augustus Sala, Things I Have Seen and People I Have Known:

‘I’ve just made the rounds,’ he said, ‘and everything looks as right as rain.’

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 63:

Malachy brought me aspirins and vitamins and told me I'd be as right as rain in the morning and I wondered what that meant, right as rain.

1999, Frank McCourt, Tis: A Memoir, page 322:

(simile, colloquial) Very good; all in order; healthy.

"To whom are you engaged? As I understand your talk, it is to Miss Bartlett. Am I right?"
"Right as rain, Renny."

1894, Robert Barr, chapter 23, in In the Midst of Alarms:

(simile, colloquial) Correct; factually accurate.


like a dog with a bone

Despite my determination to put the question off, my mind, or sub-conscious mind, like a dog with a bone which it refuses to drop in defiance of its master's command, went on revolving it.

1918, William Henry Hudson, Far Away and Long Ago: A History of My Early Life, page 328:

I was like a dog with a bone, I wouldn't let go.

1932, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Ralph Manheim, trans. 1982, Journey to the End of the Night, page 67

Wilmer Lee was like a dog with a bone — he just wouldn't let Mr. Mooney rest in peace.

1994, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences, page 152:

(simile, informal) Stubborn and tenacious; persistent; relentless; dogged.


sure as eggs is eggs

Possible corruption of "x is x", a statement equivalent to the mathematical expression x = x, or the phrase "A is A" in relation to the law of identity.

as sure as eggs are eggs (alternative)
as sure as eggs is eggs (alternative)
sure as eggs are eggs (alternative)

At this time of year, sure as eggs is eggs, the TV starts filling with Christmas ads for toys.


built like a brick shithouse

en-adj

built like a brick shithouse (not comparable)

EN-AU ck1 built like a brick shithouse.ogg

From the figurative extension of the idea that an outhouse is overbuilt if one builds it with bricks.

With a nickname that aptly translates to "Tree Stump" in Portugese,^([sic]) Palhares is built like a brick shit-house.

2012 January 13, Dallas Winston, “UFC 142 RIO: Rousimar Palhares Vs. Mike Massenzio Dissection”, in Bloody Elbow:

(simile, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar) (Of a man) Having a muscular body, particularly with well-developed muscles of the chest, arms and abdominals.

Sonia is a hot young blonde who is built like a brick shithouse! She is stacked and well put together.

2005 March 18, Hot Azz Sonia, “SONIA'S BUILT LIKE A BRICK SHITHOUSE!”, in alt.sex.phone.ads (Usenet):

(US, Canada, simile, idiomatic, colloquial, vulgar) (Of a woman) Having an athletic or muscular body; often implying also having large breasts or an attractive body.

(simile, colloquial, vulgar) (Of an object) Exceptionally well constructed; strong or tough; overbuilt or overengineered.


like water off a duck's back

"She combs me down with her tongue sometimes though, but that just slips off me like water off a duck's back."

1919, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 18, in Rainbow Valley:

Scandal after scandal would break, but it would be like water off a duck's back; no heads rolled, and no one seemed particularly perturbed.

2009 January 2, Jan Espeut, “The honeymoon is over”, in Jamaica Gleaner, retrieved 2009-01-20:

(simile, colloquial, idiomatic) Without immediate or lasting effects.

soos water op 'n eend se rug

without effects; in a manner having no effect


mad as a March hare

Possibly from the boisterous behaviour of hares in their breeding season.

[S]he was with childe in hir huſbande his abſence, or that hir louer vſed hir fondly in open preſence, as the preſumption was not onely vehement, but alſo the fact too too apparent. Hir vnfortunat huſband had not ſooner notice gyuen him vpon his returne of theſe ſorowfull newes, then his fingers began to nibble, hys teeth to grinne, hys eyes to trickle, his eares to dindle, his heade to dezell, in ſomuch as his heart being ſkeared wyth ialouſie, & his wits enſtalde through Phrenſie, he became as madde, as a marche hare.

1577, Richard Stanyhurst [i.e., Richard Stanihurst], “[The Historie of Irelande […].] A Treatise Contayning a Playne and Perfect Description of Irelande, […].”, in Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, folio 14, recto, column 1:


guilty as sin

Joe Feinberg, who supplied the decorative ceramic tiles for the Key Biscayne homes of both the President and Bebe Rebozo, thinks Nixon is "guilty as sin."

1973 November 12, “The Jury of the People Weighs Nixon”, in Time:

(simile, colloquial) Unquestionably guilty.


thick as a brick

So you ride yourselves over the fields
And you make all your animal deals
And your wise men don't know how it feels
To be thick as a brick.

1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:

(simile) Very stupid; slow to learn or understand.

愚不可及

so thick that no one else in the world can compare


old as the hills

/ˌəʊld əz‿ðə ˈhɪlz/

Possibly a reference to Job 15:7 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou made before the hills?”

His family is as old as the hills, and infinitely more respectable.

1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “In Fashion”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, pages 6–7:

A violent revolution cannot achieve anything except the inevitable results of violence, which are as old as the hills.

1937, Aldous Huxley, “Social Reform and Violence”, in Ends and Means: An Inquiry into the Nature of Ideals and into the Methods Employed for Their Realization, London: Chatto & Windus, published 1957, →OCLC, page 25:

(idiomatic, simile, chiefly hyperbolic) Extremely old.


breed like rabbits

en-verb

breed like rabbits (third-person singular simple present breeds like rabbits, present participle breeding like rabbits, simple past and past participle bred like rabbits)

breeds like rabbits (present singular third-person)
breeding like rabbits (participle present)
bred like rabbits (participle past)
bred like rabbits (past)

(simile) To breed very rapidly, to have many children


cold as ice

From Middle English cold as ise, cold as yse, colde as ise.


sleep like a log

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

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

(simile) To sleep heavily, long and without disturbance.

瞓到成隻豬噉 /𰥛到成只猪噉 (fan³ dou³ seng⁴ zek³ zyu¹ gam², literally “sleep like a pig”)

睡得像死豬 /睡得像死猪 (shuì dé xiàng sǐ zhū, literally “sleep like a dead pig”)


light as a feather

(simile) extremely light, having minimal weight


cheap as chips

From being inexpensive, similar to chips (“French fries”).

(British, New Zealand, Australia, simile) Very cheap, not costing much.


happy as a pig in shit

He's "happy as a pig in shit". "This is what I really enjoy, working with film-makers," he says.

1998 March 6, Nick Hasted, “Film: Will movies kill the soundtrack star?”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2014-08-06:

And he pays generous tribute to Noble who, he says, actively encouraged him . . . to venture further into the classics with Romeo and Juliet, Othello and Henry IV. "Speaking purely as a director, I was happy as a pig in shit."

2002 January 12, Michael Billington, “Culture: ‘It's like being in love’”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 2014-08-06:

"I am as happy as a pig in shit—you can quote me on that—doing what I'm doing at the moment."

2013 September 6, David Wroe, “Abbott adviser handed new paid role as envoy”, in The Age, Australia, retrieved 2014-08-06:

Beauty products are the one thing that I waste my money on. Give me a hundred bucks and plop me in the nearest Duane Reade, and I’m happy as a pig in shit.

2014 August 5, Megan Reynolds, “Tried & Tested: 10 Hippie Beauty Treatments”, in The Frisky, US, retrieved 2014-08-06:

(chiefly UK and Ireland, idiomatic, vulgar, simile) Extremely happy; obviously satisfied and carefree.

cieszy się, jakby mu kto w kieszeń nakakał


solid as a rock

We're not going to be able to break down this door: it's solid as a rock.

(simile) Extremely thick and heavy, so as to make it impossible to move.

Stewart has been solid as a rock ever since becoming the new vice-chairman.

(simile, of a person) Very reliable and dependable


fit like a glove

fit like a glove (third-person singular simple present fits like a glove, present participle fitting like a glove, simple past fit like a glove or fitted like a glove, past participle fit like a glove)

fits like a glove (present singular third-person)
fitting like a glove (participle present)
fit like a glove (past)
fitted like a glove (past)
fit like a glove (participle past)

This dress fits like a glove! How did you know my size?

(simile) To be a perfect fit, to be exactly the right size.

com l'anell al dit

to be a perfect fit, to be exactly the right size


swear like a trooper

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

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

(simile) To swear a lot; to utter many swear words.

пцуе како кочијаш (pcue kako kočijaš, literally “to swear like a coach driver”)

руга́ться как сапо́жник (rugátʹsja kak sapóžnik, literally “like a cobbler”)

руга́ться как изво́зчик (rugátʹsja kak izvózčik, literally “like a carter”)


read like a book

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

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

I love playing poker against Maria because I can read her like a book.

(transitive, simile) To be able to discern someone's thoughts from their body language or other behavior, especially in great detail and with little effort.

lire en quelqu'un comme dans un livre ouvert


thin as a rake

(simile) Incredibly thin, at an unhealthy-looking level of thinness.


like a lamb to the slaughter

as a lamb to the slaughter (alternative)

1993, a-ha - Lamb To The Slaughter
I went down to the water
Like a lamb to the slaughter
Didn't know what was waiting for me there
Nobody warned me
Nobody told me
My excuse is I wasn't prepared

(simile) Helplessly and innocently, without knowing the unpleasant consequences.


clean as a hound's tooth

en-adj

(as) clean as a hound's tooth (not comparable)

Rogers left the Department of State in September, 1973, before the Watergate scandal had implicated Nixon and some of his principal White House aides. He couldn't have picked a better time to return to private life and all his friends were happy for him. Bill Rogers simply cleaned his desk and moved back to his old law firm, Rogers and Wells. He came through all this untarnished, as clean as a hound's tooth.

1983, James C. H. Shen, “A Round of Calls”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 105:


poor as a church mouse

(as) poor as a church mouse (not comparable)

Alteration of earlier hungry as a church mouse, from the fact that Catholic and Orthodox priests are called to scrupulously prevent any crumb of the sacrament of Eucharist (the bread which is understood to be Christ's body) from falling on the altar or to the ground, meaning that church mice had no crumbs to feed on. This phrase seems to be a corruption of the even earlier expression “as quiet as a church mouse” from the 1300s.

But to return to our public functions; that we have had a decided turn for the church appears from the fact that the church-mouse is a recognised order amongst us, and it is our just pride that we alone have preserved the genuine character of the institution as founded by the Apostles, inasmuch as our poverty has passed into a proverb— "as poor as a church-mouse."

1844, a Mouse (sic), Le Peuple Souriquois: An Historical Sketch, in The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, vol. 71, pt. 2, page 428

She was an Eastern Virginia woman, and, although poor as a church mouse, thought herself superior to West Virginia people.

1879, John Beatty, The Citizen-Soldier, Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co., page 17:

"As poor as a poet" would be quite as comprehensible as "as poor as a church mouse."

1932 April 9, Isidor Schneider, “Hard Luck Of Poets”, in The New York Times:

Pulford is currently building a raised bed for an allotment, and another school garden is due to open soon. "I'm poor as a church mouse, but I wake up a happy man," he says.

2009 September 23, Mark Gould, quoting Paul Pulford, “Former heroin addict inspires growing optimism from the wild side”, in The Guardian:

(simile, idiomatic) Very poor, to the point of starving or begging; utterly destitute.

geen nagel hebben om zijn gat mee af te krabben


quiet as a mouse

(simile, idiomatic) Very quiet, so as to not be heard.


clean as a whistle

(as) clean as a whistle (not comparable)

(simile) Completely innocent; beyond moral reproach.


happy as Larry

This has been said to refer to the Australian boxer Larry Foley (1849–1917), who never lost a fight. This is not likely as the earliest reference to the phrase is in a letter to the editor of the Illawarra Mercury in Wollongong, Australia in 1857. In it the correspondent "G U A" (probably Dr. George Underwood Alley, known for regularly corresponding with newspapers) writes "...we'll all live together, like Brown's cows, and be as happy as Larry."

(simile, informal) Extremely happy and carefree.


white as a sheet

(simile, said of a human's complexion) Very white or pale, as if suffering from shock.


sweat like a pig

en-verb

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

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

(simile) To sweat profusely; to produce a lot of perspiration.


cut like a knife

cut like a knife (third-person singular simple present cuts like a knife, present participle cutting like a knife, simple past and past participle cut like a knife)

cuts like a knife (present singular third-person)
cutting like a knife (participle present)
cut like a knife (participle past)
cut like a knife (past)

The bitter wind cut like a knife, freezing my fingers and numbing my circulation.

(simile) To sting severely, to cause a sensation of stinging, especially said of cold weather.

(simile) To be very sharp (of a character, or remark)


bright as a button

You needn't plague yourself about her no how, because she's bright as a button, and knows all about what you want and what you don't wan't ^([sic]), as well as a sensible being.

1868, Sarah Stuart Robbins, Ned's motto, page 42:

(simile) Very cheery, energetic and upbeat.


drop like a hot potato

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

drops like a hot potato (present singular third-person)
dropping like a hot potato (participle present)
dropped like a hot potato (participle past)
dropped like a hot potato (past)

(simile, transitive, informal) To get rid of or stop doing as quickly as possible.


like a dog in heat

(simile, somewhat vulgar) Very energetic and enthusiastic, especially when sexually aroused.


like a dog on heat

like a dog in heat
like a dog in heat#English

(simile) Alternative form of like a dog in heat.


mind like a sieve

Since a sieve has many holes, the thoughts in such a mind might be imagined to fall out.

Oh, that's right. You said that yesterday, didn't you? I have a mind like a sieve.


smoke like a chimney

smoke like a chimney (third-person singular simple present smokes like a chimney, present participle smoking like a chimney, simple past and past participle smoked like a chimney)

smokes like a chimney (present singular third-person)
smoking like a chimney (participle present)
smoked like a chimney (participle past)
smoked like a chimney (past)

(informal, simile, idiomatic) To smoke tobacco frequently.

дымить, как паровоз (dymitʹ, kak parovoz, literally “smoke like a steam engine”)


smooth as a baby's bottom

en-adj

smooth as a baby's bottom (not comparable)

The texture has been described as being as soft and smooth as a baby's bottom

2000, Moosewood Collective, New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 284:

His cheeks were as smooth as a baby's bottom, and he smelled good.

1993, Peter Robinson, A Necessary End, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 316:

He'd sanded it for hours, "Until it was smooth as a baby's bottom," he'd said, and laughed his deep, throaty laugh.

2004, Stephanie H. Meyer with John Meyer, Teen Ink: Written in the Dirt--, HCI Teens, →ISBN, page 89:


slow as molasses in January

Since molasses is a fluid of high viscosity that might be expected to move particularly slowly in cold weather in January.

like molasses in January (alternative)
slow as molasses (alternative)
slower than molasses in January (alternative)


laugh like a hyena

en-verb

laugh like a hyena (third-person singular simple present laughs like a hyena, present participle laughing like a hyena, simple past and past participle laughed like a hyena)

laughs like a hyena (present singular third-person)
laughing like a hyena (participle present)
laughed like a hyena (participle past)
laughed like a hyena (past)


plain as the nose on one's face

en-adj

plain as the nose on one's face (not comparable)

En-au-plain as the nose on one's face.ogg

se voir comme le nez au milieu de la figure


happy as a clam

happy as a clam at high water (alternative)

Marlene […] ran off into the parade ground happy as a clam, […].

2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 363:


like water

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

He throws great parties: the beer flows like water.

We will invade the village, and the blood will flow like water.

In our house we go through paper towels like water.

(simile) Abundantly; consumed rapidly or found in great quantity.


full as a goog

‘I′m full as a goog, Mr Goldberg. Couldn′t manage another crumb.’

1998, Bryce Courtenay, Jessica, unnumbered page:

After a while I sat back and breathed a heavy sigh. “I am full as a goog!”

2003, Michael Michalak, A Voice from the Ashes: A Tribute to Elaine, page 74:

‘Don't worry this one′s as full as a goog. It won′t get far,’ Dig yelled, watching the albatross struggle to keep itself aloft.

2007, James Woodford, Whitecap, page 39:

(Australia, simile, colloquial) Having eaten too much.


black as coal

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

1966, The Rolling Stones, “Paint It, Black”, in Aftermath:

Well she's black as coal, but she burn like a fire,
And she wrap herself around you like a well-worn tire.

1975, “Island Girl”, in Bernie Taupin (lyrics), Rock of the Westies, performed by Elton John:


free as a bird

(simile) Having no ties; completely free.


like white on rice

Now you're the finest girl I ever saw in my life / I want to stick to you like white on rice

1975, “Baby Get It On”, performed by Ike & Tina Turner:

(simile) In very close proximity; following closely.


head

En-au-nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.ogg

A more elaborate form of nervous as a cat. The implication is that the cat is afraid of its long tail being caught underneath a rocker.


like a million dollars

After that vacation I feel like a million dollars

(simile, colloquial) extremely good or well


like a million bucks

After that vacation I feel like a million bucks.

(simile, colloquial) Extremely good or well.


safe as houses

Refererring to the investment value of property.

1808, William Milton, "Memorial", Appendix 6A to Third Report from the Committee on the Highways of the Kingdon, House of Commons papers
In objection to this Coach, it is urged by the Coachmen that it looks heavy; and that they had rather break a leg now and then than drive such an ugly thing; but it regularly makes part of their sarcasm, that "It is as safe as a house"

The owner of the weapon assured him that he was as safe as houses

1859, Kinahan Cornwallis, A panorama of the New World, volume I, page 79:

The clothes will floor us as safe as houses!

1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter LVII, in Far from the Madding Crowd:

Yes'ir, I'm saved as safe as houses

1895, E. M. Stooke, Not Exactly, as cited in The English Dialect Dictionary: R-S, Volume 5, Joseph Wright, editor, 1904

You could see where your money was, if you owned a house; it was safe, safe as houses, the very phrase, and you couldn't say safer than that unless you brought in the Bank of England which was too big altogether for the local men and their well-warmed nest eggs


slippery as an eel

(simile, colloquial) So slippery that it is almost impossible to hold.

(idiomatic, simile, colloquial) Very crafty or cunning.


easy as ABC

You were such a P-Y-T, catching all the lights/ Just easy as A-B-C that's how you make it right!

2007 April 23, Gaspard Augé, Jessie Chaton, Xavier de Rosnay, “D.A.N.C.E.”, in †, performed by Justice:


proud as a peacock

“Donʼt nobody want to see a black man look like you walkinʼ proud as a peacock. Like you ainʼt got a lick of fear in you.”

2016, Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing, Penguin Books (2017), page 158:


thick as thieves

From thick (“friendly, intimate”), first attested in 1827 as "thick as two thieves".

thick as two thieves (alternative)
close as thieves (alternative)

So the king sneaked into the wigwam and took to his bottle for comfort, and before long the duke tackled HIS bottle; and so in about a half an hour they was as thick as thieves again, and the tighter they got the lovinger they got, and went off a-snoring in each other's arms.

1884, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in Huckleberry Finn:

He and Victoria were as thick as thieves, and are about equal in wickedness.

1904, Fergus Hume, chapter 9, in The Red Window:

President Bush may think he's as thick as thieves with his pal Vladimir Putin, but hopefully someone at the White House is reading the English edition of Pravda.

2001 October 26, Tony Karon, “What They're Saying About the War”, in Time, retrieved 2015-08-04:

(idiomatic, simile, of friends or members of a group) Intimate, close-knit, tight.


tight as a duck's arse

(simile, vulgar) Extremely tight; mean; excessively thrifty.


clear as crystal

(simile, of an object) Entirely transparent.

(simile, of a statement) Easily understandable.


close as wax

(simile, colloquial) miserly, tight, or secretive


thick as a plank

más simple que el mecanismo de un botijo


like feeding time at the zoo

en-adj

like feeding time at the zoo (not comparable)

Extremely frenetic, disorderly and messy.


built like a tank

(slang, of a vehicle, machine, building, etc.) Sturdy; exceptionally well constructed.