See Also: BODY, COURAGE, MUSCLES, TOUGHNESS
With slight alterations some of the more colorful army and country similes can be cleaned up with the original meaning still implicit. For example, in her novel, Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich describes a character as being “Built like a brick outhouse.”
Some other strength/tree comparisons include: “Strong as an old apple tree” (Eudora Welty) and “Sturdy as an oak trunk” (Ignazio Silone).
What poet Levine is comparing to the strength of money is work.
If someone has power, they are able to control other people and their activities.
Don't use 'power' to refer to someone's physical energy, or their ability to move heavy objects. Use strength.
Noun | 1. | ![]() property - a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class; "a study of the physical properties of atomic particles" good part - a place of especial strength hardiness, lustiness, robustness, validity - the property of being strong and healthy in constitution stalwartness, stoutness - the property of being strong and resolute sturdiness - the property of something that is strongly built indomitability, invincibility - the property being difficult or impossible to defeat endurance - the power to withstand hardship or stress; "the marathon tests a runner's endurance" invulnerability - the property of being invulnerable; the property of being incapable of being hurt (physically or emotionally) weakness - the property of lacking physical or mental strength; liability to failure under pressure or stress or strain; "his weakness increased as he became older"; "the weakness of the span was overlooked until it collapsed" |
2. | ![]() sea power - naval strength capability, capableness - the quality of being capable -- physically or intellectually or legally; "he worked to the limits of his capability" firepower - (military) the relative capacity for delivering fire on a target armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker" | |
3. | strength - physical energy or intensity; "he hit with all the force he could muster"; "it was destroyed by the strength of the gale"; "a government has not the vitality and forcefulness of a living man" brunt - main force of a blow etc; "bore the brunt of the attack" vigor, vigour, energy, zip - forceful exertion; "he plays tennis with great energy"; "he's full of zip" intensiveness, intensity - high level or degree; the property of being intense | |
4. | ![]() green fingers, green thumb - a special ability to make plants grow | |
5. | strength - the power to induce the taking of a course of action or the embracing of a point of view by means of argument or entreaty; "the strength of his argument settled the matter" power, powerfulness - possession of controlling influence; "the deterrent power of nuclear weapons"; "the power of his love saved her"; "his powerfulness was concealed by a gentle facade" convincingness - the power of argument or evidence to cause belief | |
6. | ![]() radio brightness - the strength of a radio wave picked up by a radio telescope magnitude - the property of relative size or extent (whether large or small); "they tried to predict the magnitude of the explosion"; "about the magnitude of a small pea" threshold level - the intensity level that is just barely perceptible field intensity, field strength - the vector sum of all the forces exerted by an electrical or magnetic field (on a unit mass or unit charge or unit magnetic pole) at a given point in the field candlepower, light intensity - luminous intensity measured in candelas acoustic power, sound pressure level - the physical intensity of sound half-intensity - half the maximum intensity | |
7. | strength - capacity to produce strong physiological or chemical effects; "the toxin's potency"; "the strength of the drinks" power, powerfulness - possession of controlling influence; "the deterrent power of nuclear weapons"; "the power of his love saved her"; "his powerfulness was concealed by a gentle facade" | |
8. | strength - the condition of financial success; "the strength of the company's stock in recent weeks" successfulness, prosperity - the condition of prospering; having good fortune weakness - the condition of being financially weak; "the weakness of the dollar against the yen" | |
9. | strength - permanence by virtue of the power to resist stress or force; "they advertised the durability of their products" tensile strength - the strength of material expressed as the greatest longitudinal stress it can bear without tearing apart indestructibility - the strength to resist destruction permanence, permanency - the property of being able to exist for an indefinite duration persistence, continuity - the property of a continuous and connected period of time changelessness - the property of remaining unchanged everlastingness - the property of lasting forever |