(7) However, it can also be read as containing an elliptical clause of comparison and understood to mean, roughly, "like a person who...." Such a clause describes a likeness or resemblance between two things but does not offer a reason for an action, nor does it precisely equate the two items being compared.
In several passages the phrase has a quite different meaning, and in most of these instances it is clearly to be understood as containing an elliptical clause of comparison.
When in Chaucer as [s]he that contains an elliptical clause of comparison, the suppressed verb is usually a form of "to do" or "to be," and the following that introduces a new subordinate clause.
(16) One passage in which as [s]he that contains an elliptical clause of comparison does have a near-parallel in Boccaccio:
Recognizing the elliptical clause of comparison, we receive a different first impression: Criseyde is alone and fearful, resembling a woman who does not know what to do.