See Also: CLOSENESS; GROWTH, SPREADING

1. Abound like street vendors on a spring day —Anon
2. Abound like blades of grass —George Sandys
3. Abundant as the light of the sun —Thomas Carlyle
4. Abundant as the salt in the sea —Anon
5. Abundant as air —Anon

   Modern day life has added “Abundant as polluted air and water.”

6. Abundant as June graduates in search of jobs —Anon
7. Abundant as poverty —Anon
8. Ample as the wants of man —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
9. As full as a fruit tree in spring blossom —Janet Flanner

   The simile refers to a letter filled with good news.

10. As stuffed (with idle hopes and false illusions) as any Whitsun goose crammed with bread and spices —George Garrett
11. As stuffed with ideas as a quilt is with batting —Anon
12. Bountiful as April rains —William Cowper
13. Bountiful as the showers that fall into the Spring’s green bosom —James Shirley
14. Bulging like a coin purse fallen on the ground —W. D. Snodgrass
15. [Dreams] came like locusts —Isaac Bashevis Singer
16. (The big racket money) comes in like water from a pipe in your bathroom, a steady stream that never stops flowing —Raymond Chandler
17. Ladled out fines like soup to breadline beggars —Bernard Malamud

    In Malamud’s novel, The Natural, the simile refers to fines issued by a baseball coach to rule-breaking players.

18. Lush as a Flemish oil painting —Anon
19. Numerous as a bank or trust company’s vice-presidents —New York Tribune, January 6, 1921

    With the lean-and-mean management style in vogue since the mid-eighties, this long enduring simile may well be headed for obsolescence.

20. (Children appearing here and there … ) numerous as fireflies —Alice McDermott
21. Overdo … like a host who stuffs his guests with too many hors d’oeuvres —Tom Shales, Public Radio, January 10, 1986

    The simile referred to the directorial touches used in a movie, The Color Purple.

22. Plentiful as blackberries —William Shakespeare
23. Plentiful as New Year’s Eve predictions and resolutions —Elyse Sommer
24. Plentiful as oak leaves, as plentiful as the fireflies that covered the lawn at evening —Ellen Gilchrist
25. Plentiful as tabby cats —W. S. Gilbert
26. Stuffed like a Strasbourg goose —Anon

    Strasbourg geese are over-fed and under-exercised in order to obtain the largest possible liver for making pté. Being stuffed like a Strasbourg goose is linked to any kind of excess.

27. They’re like plums on a tree —H. E. Bates

    Bates compared the abundance of plums on a tree to an abundance of admirers.

28. Thick as autumnal leaves —John Milton
29. Thick as fleas —American colloquialism, attributed to New England

    Some variations from the American South: “Thick as fleas on a fat pup,” or “Thick as flies on flypaper”.

30. Thick as hail —William Shakespeare
31. (You have fallen into ripeness) thick as honey —Marge Piercy
32. Thick as Japanese beetles —Herman Wouk

    Wouk’s simile from Inside, Outside refers to the behavior of people working for the president of the United States.

33. (Eyelashes) thick as June grass —Elizabeth Spencer
34. Thick as summer stars —William Blake
35. Thick as buttercups in June —Henry James
36. Thick as … freckles —George Garrett

    In his novel, Death of the Fox, Garrett refers specifically to the freckles of Sir Francis Drake.

37. Thick as the green leaves of a garden —Henry James

hand over fist See PACE.

happy hunting ground See PARADISE.

land of milk and honey See PARADISE.

loaves and fishes See MONEY.

my cup runneth over Any state of abundance, profusion, or excess; a run of luck or good fortune. This phrase from the well-known Twenty-third psalm (“The Lord is my shepherd”) is now commonly used in a secular sense, though in a secular sense, though in its original context it referred to the plentitude of God’s goodness and spiritual gifts.

spring up like mushrooms To proliferate; to appear in great quantity all at once. Mushrooms, a type of fungus, grow rapidly and abundantly following the slightest rainfall.