Lightnesss

See Also: SOFTNESS

1. Airy as the holes in Swiss cheese —Anon
2. As giddy as a drunken man —Charles Dickens

   This is the last of a whole string of similes uttered by a reformed Scrooge in A Christmas Carol: I’m as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I’m as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world.

   See Also: GAIETY

3. As lightly as a cloud is blown —John Greenleaf Whittier
4. Flippancy, like comedy, is but a matter of visual first impressions —Joseph Conrad
5. (A light blue summer dress as) frothy as high tide —Jonathan Kellerman
6. Hands were light as moths —John MacDonald)
7. Light as a hand among blossoms —Theodore Roethke
8. (Mountains … ) light and airy like balloons on a string —George Garrett
9. [Touch] light as a butterfly —Eleanor Farejons

   And lighter still, there’s a touch that’s “Light as a butterfly’s kiss” from a John MacDonald novel.

10. Light as a flight of tumbling birds —C. S. Lewis
11. Light as a fly —John Ray’s Proverbs
12. Light as a leaf —Anon

    An ancient simile which continues in use to describe lightness of heart, mind and body. “Light as” variants include “Light as a feather,” “Light as wind,” and “Light as air.” With them all, “Lighter than” crops up as frequently as “Light as.”

13. Light as a milkweed puff —Richard Wilbur
14. [A racing jockey] light as a monkey —Ernest Hemingway
15. Light as an angel —Donald McCaig
16. Light as a paper toy —Anon
17. Light as a petal falling upon stone —Theodore Roethke
18. (She is) light as a phantom —W. P. Kinsella
19. Light as a seed —Theodore Roethke
20. Light as breath —Robert Penn Warren
21. Light as cork —Henry James
22. Light as dandelion fluff —Mary Hedin
23. [Snow] light as dust —Amy Lowell
24. Light as helium —Elizabeth Bishop
25. [Snowflakes] light as milkweed —T. Coraghessan Boyle
26. [Feathers on a hat] light as mist in a breeze —Colette
27. Light as sea-foam, strong as the tide —Slogan for underwear, Paris-Hecker Co.
28. (Free and) light as the breath that clung to them like clouds —Arthur Gregor
29. Light as thistledown —John Yount
30. (We carry her indoor. She is) light as toast —Louise Erdrich
31. Lightly … as a child skips rope, the way a mouse waltzes —E.B. White on James Thurber’s writing
32. Lightly as a wisp of air —Harvey Swados
33. Weightless as an ache —Sharon Sheehe Stark

    In Stark’s novel, A Wrestling Season, the simile is used to answer the question of what death might be like.

34. (Her body was … ) weightless as a strip of cane —Eudora Welty
35. Weightless as the notes rung out of bells at kindling dawn —George Garrett