See Also: SEX

1. A brief surge of sexual desire that crested and passed like a wave breaking —Paige Mitchell
2. Craves love like oxygen —Marge Piercy
3. Craving [for a man] … like a cigarette smoker’s who knows his desire is unhealthy, knows that the next puff may set off a chain reaction of catastrophe, but nevertheless cannot by such logic tame the impulse —Paul Reidinger
4. Desire had run its course like a long and serious illness —Harvey Swados
5. Desire … like the hunger for a definite but hard-to-come-by food —Mary Gordon
6. Desire overtook us like a hot, breaking wave —A. E. Maxwell
7. Desires are either natural and necessary, like eating and drinking; or natural and not necessary, like intercourse with females; or neither natural or necessary —Michel de Montaigne
8. Desires..hurried like the clouds —Elizabeth Bowen
9. Desire … swept over her like a flame —Robin McCorquodale
10. Dying for … like God for a repentant sinner —Bertold Brecht
11. (She is) gasping after love like a carp after water on a kitchen table —Gustave Flaubert
12. Her needs stick out all over, like a porcupine’s needles —Emily Listfield
13. His need for her was crippling … like a cruel blow at the back of his knees —John Cheever
14. How passionate the mating instinct is, like a giant hippo chasing his mate through the underbrush and never stopping till he finally mounts her in the muddy waters of the mighty Amazon —Daniel Asa Rose
15. Longing … afflicted her like a toothache —Harold Acton
16. Miss like sin —Lael Tucker Wertenbaker

    The simile in full context from the novel, Unbidden Guests: “I woke up missing Alex like sin.”

17. Miss you like breath —Janet Flanner
18. More giddy in my desires than a monkey —William Shakespeare
19. My desire for her is so wild I feel as if I’m all liquid —W. P. Kinsella
20. A passion finer than lust, as if everything living is moist with her —Daniela Gioseffi
21. Worldly desires are like columns of sunshine radiating through a dusty window, nothing tangible, nothing there —Bratzlav Naham
22. Yearning radiating from his face like heat from an electric heater —Larry McMurtry

(See also LUST.)

big eyes A great lust or desire for a person or object. This jazz term, in use since the 1950s, may have come from the older, less picturesque to have eyes for ‘to be attracted to or desirous of,’ used as early as 1810 in The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter. Big eyes has a corresponding negative expression, no eyes, also in use since 1950s, meaning ‘lack of desire, or disinclination.’

forbidden fruit A tempting but prohibited object or experience; an unauthorized or illegal indulgence, often of a sexual nature. The Biblical origin of this phrase appears in Genesis 3:3:

The expression has been used figuratively for centuries.

give one’s eyeteeth To gladly make the greatest sacrifice to obtain a desired end; to yield something precious in exchange for the achievement of one’s desire. The eyeteeth, so named because their roots extend to just under the eyes, are the two pointed canines which flank the front teeth of the upper jaw. Since excruciating pain accompanies their extraction, this expression came to imply making a painful sacrifice.

give one’s right arm To be willing to make a great sacrifice or to endure great pain or inconvenience; to trade something as irreplaceable as part of one’s body for an object of desire. In our predominantly right-handed society, to forfeit one’s right arm signifies a great loss. This phrase has been popular since the early 1900s. Earlier, in the late 19th century, willing to give one’s ears was a common expression. It is said to allude to the ancient practice of cutting off ears for various offenses.

go through fire and water To be willing to suffer pain or brave danger in order to obtain the object of one’s desire; to undergo great sacrifice or pay any price to achieve a desired end; to prove one-self by the most demanding of tests. The expression is thought to derive from ordeals involving fire and water which were common methods of trial in Anglo-Saxon times. To prove their innocence, accused persons were often forced to carry hot bars of iron or to plunge a hand into boiling water without injury. The phrase is now used exclusively in a figurative sense, as illustrated by the following from Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor:

itching palm Avarice, greed, cupidity; an abnormal desire for money and material possessions, often implying an openness or susceptibility to bribery. The expression apparently arose from the old superstition that a person whose palm itches is about to receive money. The figurative sense of itching ‘an uneasy desire or hankering’ dates from the first half of the 14th century. Shakespeare used the phrase in Julius Caesar:

make the mouth water To excite a craving or desire, to cause to anticipate eagerly. This expression has its origin in the stimulation of the salivary glands by the appetizing sight or smell of food. Both literal and figurative uses of the phrase date from the 16th century.

my kingdom for a horse! An expression used when one would gladly trade an obviously valuable possession for one of seemingly lesser worth, usually because the lack of the latter renders the former meaningless or useless. It was the cry of Shakespeare’s Richard III at Bosworth Field:

wait for dead men’s shoes To covetously await one ’s inheritance; to eagerly anticipate the position or property that another’s death will bring. This expression, infrequently used today, derives from the former Jewish cusTom’surrounding the transfer or bequeathing of property, as related in Ruth 4:7. A bargain was formally sealed by removing and handing over one’s shoe. Similarly, inheritance due to death was signaled by pulling off the dead man’s shoes and giving them to his heir. Dead men’s shoes was often used alone to indicate the property so bequeathed or so awaited.

yen A craving or strong desire; a yearning, longing, or hankering. One theory regarding the origin of this expression claims that yen is a corruption of the Chinese slang term yan ‘a craving, as for opium or drink.’ Another theory states that yen is probably an altered form of yearn or yearning. The term dates from at least 1908.