See Also: ROCKING AND ROLLING, VIBRATION

1. Body quivers like a dancing animal’s —Maureen Howard
2. Felt a tremor … like an earthquake in a swamp —William Getz

   The tremor described is the shiver that goes through a person.

3. (The handkerchief) flapped like a jib in a crosswind —T. Coraghessan Boyle
4. (Ali’s brain) flickered and wavered like a candle flame in a draft —Gerald Kersh
5. (My tongue) fluttered like a dead leaf —George Garrett
6. Fluttered like paper in the wind —Gertrude Atherton
7. Fluttering around like birds in a thicket —Ariel Dorfman
8. Fluttering around … like a yardful of hens —Harvey Swados
9. Fluttering in the wind, like a schooner in full rig —Anatole France

   This referred to a feather fluttering on a hat, and while feathered hats have not been in style for many years, the comparison is not limited to this descriptive reference point.

10. Fluttering like a white moth —O. Henry
11. Fluttering like pigeons —Christina Rossetti
12. Flutter like large butterflies —Oscar Wilde
13. Her hands and face shook like Jell-O —Joseph Heller

    Trembling flesh and pudding make for vivid similes. Some variants: “Quivering all over … like a dish of jelly on a rickety table” (Nikolay Leskov); “The whole huge torso, the shoulders, arms and breast and the great heaving belly, would shake and tremble like a hogshead full of jelly.” (Thomas Wolfe)

14. His whole body was shaking and the more he tried to control it, the more violently it shook, as though the lines of communications between his brain and his muscles had been cut —Margaret Millar
15. (Nostrils) pulse like a heart on fire —Gertrude Atherton
16. Quake like mice when the cat is mentioned —Honoré de Balzac
17. (His whole face) quivered convulsively as if pricked by pins and needles —Luigi Pirandello
18. [An evening gown] Quivered like a butterfly about to take wing —Dorothea Straus
19. Quivered like a pointer dog —Jonathan Gash
20. Quivered like a sob —Conrad Aiken
21. Quivered like forest-leaves —Dante Gabriel Rossetti
22. Quivering … like a wounded bird —Leo Tolstoy
23. Quiver like a twig in a gale —L. P. Hartley
24. Quiver like tuning forks —Peter De Vries
25. (The Saab) rattled like a trayful of china —Scott Spencer
26. Shaking all over like someone attached to an electric reducing belt —Cornell Woolrich
27. Shaking like a dog shittin’ peach pits —Ken Kesey
28. Shaking like a drunk the morning-after —Clarence Major
29. Shaking like a lamb led to slaughter —Sholom Aleichem
30. Shaking like an ague-fit —William Faulkner
31. Shaking like a piece of grass —Louise Erdrich
32. Shaking like a treed raccoon —Harvey Swados
33. Shaking like a wet spaniel —T. Coraghessan Boyle
34. (Her breath) shaking like turning leaves —Mary Hedin
35. Shiver as at the sight of a bug or a repulsively dirty man in the street —Colette
36. Shivered, like a swimmer who has tested the water with a toe and found it exceeding chill —Stefan Zweig
37. Shivering like a puppy —Ross Macdonald
38. Shivering like a whippet on a cold day —Jilly Cooper
39. Shiver like a flame —George Garrett
40. Shiver like ostriches in a zoo —Marge Piercy
41. Shivers like a fish in a net —George Garrett
42. Shook like a harpstring —Beryl Markham
43. [A hand that had been beaten] shook like a loose leaf in the air —James Joyce
44. Shook like an autumn leaf —Dante Gabriel Rossetti

    To “shake like an aspen leaf” is a familiar variant. “I shook like a leaf … like a little leaf in a big storm” from a short story, The Actor, by Nunally Johnson exemplifies the simile extended.

45. (His whole body) shook like a thunder-stricken tree —Yisrael Zarchi
46. (His face was gray and) shook like a torn sail —Malcolm Cowley
47. Shook like a wet mutt [describing a dynamited building] —Tom Robbins
48. Shudder as if she were passing a cemetery —Elsa Schiaparelli
49. Shuddered all over, like a dog that recognizes the vet and smells its oncoming death —Frank Tuohy
50. Shuddered like a broken doll —Louise Erdrich
51. Shudders like an epileptic —T. Coraghessan Boyle
52. Shudders … like a woman gently coming —Diane Ackerman
53. Shuddery like a hooked fish or a stallion —W. D. Snodgrass
54. Silently quivering like the waters of a lake when the wind blows offshore —Yitzhak Shenhar
55. Swayed like the tail of a dog attempting to be friendly —F. van Wyck Mason
56. Sways like a broken stalk —Elizabeth Bishop
57. (Her body) sways like a willow in spring wind —Robert Penn Warren
58. Sways like tropical seaweed —Lawrence Durrell
59. Trembled like an adolescent —Robert Silverberg
60. Trembled tensely like a released harp-string —Joseph Conrad
61. Tremble like an aspirin —Ogden Nash
62. Trembling as if something were shaking him —Ben Hecht
63. Trembling like a colt —Lawrence Durrell
64. Trembling like an invalid —Mavis Gallant
65. Trembling like a string —Ivan Turgenev
66. (Knees) trembly like water —Peggy Bennett
67. Shudder as if she were passing a cemetery —Elsa Schiaparelli
68. Tremulous as a plant in a stream —Vita Sackville-West
69. Twitching like a hooked fish —Gerald Kersh
70. Twitching like a skate [fish] in a frying pan —Lawrence Durrell
71. An unexpected shudder rippled over her body, like a cold wind moving across water —Madeleine L’Engle
72. Wobble like a skittle —Graham Swift