Turning and Twisting

Turning and Twisting

 

1. Circling like polishing rags —Diane Ackerman
2. (His brain) spinning around and around like a ship’s propeller —Graham Masterton
3. Spinning like a wind vane —William Faulkner
4. Spun like someone caught in a revolving door —William Mcllvanney
5. (My whole house) spun around me like a crazy carnival ride —George Garrett
6. Swerving like a bird in mid-air —Lawrence Durrell
7. Swirling about like boiling milk —H. G. Wells
8. Sway like an elephant’s trunk —Anon
9. (My senses) swivel like guns in their fixed sockets —Margaret Atwood
10. (We caught him red-handed and he) turned as easily as a trout in the pan —Bryan Forbes
11. Turned as a bucket turns in a well —Dante Gabriel Rossetti
12. Turning … like a chicken on a spit —Enid Bagnold
13. Turning like a ghost across the road —Eudora Welty
14. Turning like a hand in water —Philip Levine
15. Turns and turns like a dog making a place to lie down —Maxine Kumin
16. Twisted like a caterpillar —Cornell Woolrich
17. Twisted like a desperate fish —Peter S. Beagle
18. (Ryan’s mouth) twisted, like a key in a lock —Julia O’Faolain
19. Twisting his whole body as if his bones were made of rubber —Alexander Solzhenitsyn
20. Went around and around like the policeman and Charlie Chaplin, both intending to fall down —Eudora Welty
21. Wheeled like an ambushed cat —Nelson Algren
22. Whipped round like a steel spring —John Fowles
23. Whisking about like a swallow into its nest —O. Henry
24. (She was always) whisking about like a clean starched napkin —H. E. Bates
25. Wriggle … like a snake —Mary Stewart
26. Writhing like a baited worm —Countee Cullen

Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.