Packed with more than 16,000 imaginative, colorful phrases--from "abandoned as a used Kleenex" to "quiet as an eel swimming in oil"--this reference will help any politician, writer, or lover of language find the perfect simile, be it original or banal, verbose or succinct. Citing more than 2,000 sources--from the Bible, Socrates, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and H. L. Mencken to popular movies, music, and television shows--the "Similes Dictionary" covers hundreds of subjects broken into thematic categories that include topics such as virtue, anger, age, ambition, importance, and youth, helping readers find the fitting phrase quickly and easily. Perfect for setting the atmosphere, making a point, and or helping spin a tale with economy, intelligence, and ingenuity, the similes found in this collection, where pithy and poetic sayings are "as plentiful as blackberries" (Shakespeare) and quotes are "as useful as a Swiss army knife" (anonymous), will inspire anyone.

A masterful metaphor, like a picture, may be worth a thousand words. By comparing two unlike objects or ideas, it illuminates the similarities between them, accomplishing in a word or phrase what could otherwise be expressed only in many words, if at all. Metaphors Dictionary is an expansive collection of 6,500 colorful classic and contemporary comparative phrases (with full annotations and a complete bibliography of sources). The Metaphors Dictionary revisits most of the great names in the annals of cultural literacy while dipping into current media too.