Physical Feelings

See Also: HEALTH, PAIN

1. The cold struck him like a blow from a fist —Bernard Malamud
2. 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.

3. Disembodied feeling, like going under an anaesthetic —Gavin Lyall
4. Feeling … dizzy like someone who’s been bound fast and is suddenly free —Cornell Woolrich
5. (John sat there open-mouthed,) feeling the nerves of his body twitter like so many sparrows perched upon his spinal column —F.Scott Fitzgerald
6. (I am beginning to live a little, and) feel less like a sick oyster at low tide —Louisa May Alcott
7. Feel my ribs and guts flattening together like leaves in a book —Dashiell Hammett
8. Feels the arch of his eyebrows like drying paste on his forehead —John Updike
9. Felt a chill like cold water at the roots of my hair —Dorothy Canfield Fisher
10. Felt a pleasurable languor running through every limb as though all the blood in his body had turned to warm milk —Joseph Conrad
11. 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
12. Felt giddy, as if I had come to the bottom of a staircase and found one more step than my feet expected —Mary Gordon
13. Felt his body … settling down like furniture in a house at the end of a hot day —Frank Tuohy
14. Felt like a half-digested meal eaten in a greasy-spoon joint —Raymond Chandler
15. Felt like a tree that had been struck by lightning —Richard Lourie
16. Felt like a Whoopee cushion sat on by a fat person —Peter Benchley
17. Felt like I’d eaten a pound of cold buttered popcorn and washed it down with bulk saccharin —Sue Grafton
18. A giddy feeling in his stomach, as though he were on a swing in the middle of its downward arc —John Yount
19. The great cold struck him like an icy douche —Émile Zola
20. The ground was shifting under his feet like the trick floors at sideshows —Shirley Ann Grau
21. Head [of main character] clears like a hazy morning giving way to noon —T. Coraghessan Boyle
22. Head feels like the inside of a soggy sandwich —François Camoin
23. His stomach was spinning like a stunting airplane over a cow pasture —Elizabeth Spencer
24. Joints creak like a stiff shirt —Erich Maria Remarque
25. Joints … stiff as dry sticks —Gloria Norris
26. Legs feel stiff, as if they are all bone —Gary Gildner
27. Legs felt like two old rusted rain gutters —Flannery O’Connor
28. Leg went to sleep … it feels like a bag of nails —Thomas Williams
29. (Could feel all her) muscles shrinking like severed vines in the sun —William Faulkner
30. My belly and behind were heavy as cold iron —Maya Angelou

    See Also: HEAVINESS

31. My face was sticky all over, like it wanted to sweat but it couldn’t —Lee Smith
32. My throat was as dry as ginned cotton —Borden Deal

    See Also: DRYNESS

33. 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
34. Savoring the joy of rest as if she had twenty years’ accumulation of weariness to work off —Colette
35. Shivering fits, like rows of cold wet needles up and down my spine —James Stern

    See Also: TREMBLING

36. My throat steams like a sewer —Marge Piercy
37. Stiff all over and felt like a sack of wet, chilly sand —Denis Johnson
38. The stillness soaked into her like a fine chill rain —Margaret Mitchell
39. Warmth ran through Bazely’s body like a current of fire —Phyllis Bottome
40. A wonderful feeling [of relief from pain after an injection] … flowed through him like some wonderful, gently warmed milk —Heinrich Böll