Physical Feelings
Physical Feelings
See Also: HEALTH, PAIN
- The cold struck him like a blow from a fist —Bernard Malamud
- Deep down within her she felt as though a fish moved its tail —Sigrid Undset
This lyrical simile describes the first stirrings of life in a pregnant woman.
- Disembodied feeling, like going under an anaesthetic —Gavin Lyall
- Feeling … dizzy like someone who’s been bound fast and is suddenly free —Cornell Woolrich
- (John sat there open-mouthed,) feeling the nerves of his body twitter like so many sparrows perched upon his spinal column —F.Scott Fitzgerald
- (I am beginning to live a little, and) feel less like a sick oyster at low tide —Louisa May Alcott
- Feel my ribs and guts flattening together like leaves in a book —Dashiell Hammett
- Feels the arch of his eyebrows like drying paste on his forehead —John Updike
- Felt a chill like cold water at the roots of my hair —Dorothy Canfield Fisher
- Felt a pleasurable languor running through every limb as though all the blood in his body had turned to warm milk —Joseph Conrad
- Felt a sudden dizziness, as though, from a mad flight through the clouds and darkness, he had dropped to safety again, and the fall had stunned him —Edith Wharton
- Felt giddy, as if I had come to the bottom of a staircase and found one more step than my feet expected —Mary Gordon
- Felt his body … settling down like furniture in a house at the end of a hot day —Frank Tuohy
- Felt like a half-digested meal eaten in a greasy-spoon joint —Raymond Chandler
- Felt like a tree that had been struck by lightning —Richard Lourie
- Felt like a Whoopee cushion sat on by a fat person —Peter Benchley
- Felt like I’d eaten a pound of cold buttered popcorn and washed it down with bulk saccharin —Sue Grafton
- A giddy feeling in his stomach, as though he were on a swing in the middle of its downward arc —John Yount
- The great cold struck him like an icy douche —Émile Zola
- The ground was shifting under his feet like the trick floors at sideshows —Shirley Ann Grau
- Head [of main character] clears like a hazy morning giving way to noon —T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Head feels like the inside of a soggy sandwich —François Camoin
- His stomach was spinning like a stunting airplane over a cow pasture —Elizabeth Spencer
- Joints creak like a stiff shirt —Erich Maria Remarque
- Joints … stiff as dry sticks —Gloria Norris
- Legs feel stiff, as if they are all bone —Gary Gildner
- Legs felt like two old rusted rain gutters —Flannery O’Connor
- Leg went to sleep … it feels like a bag of nails —Thomas Williams
- (Could feel all her) muscles shrinking like severed vines in the sun —William Faulkner
- My belly and behind were heavy as cold iron —Maya Angelou
See Also: HEAVINESS
- My face was sticky all over, like it wanted to sweat but it couldn’t —Lee Smith
- My throat was as dry as ginned cotton —Borden Deal
See Also: DRYNESS
- Put my head between my legs and feel the blood rush around like a herd of buffaloes trapped at the edge of a cliff —Tama Janowitz
- Savoring the joy of rest as if she had twenty years’ accumulation of weariness to work off —Colette
- Shivering fits, like rows of cold wet needles up and down my spine —James Stern
See Also: TREMBLING
- My throat steams like a sewer —Marge Piercy
- Stiff all over and felt like a sack of wet, chilly sand —Denis Johnson
- The stillness soaked into her like a fine chill rain —Margaret Mitchell
- Warmth ran through Bazely’s body like a current of fire —Phyllis Bottome
- A wonderful feeling [of relief from pain after an injection] … flowed through him like some wonderful, gently warmed milk —Heinrich Böll