See Also:EMOTIONS, NERVOUSNESS, TENSION

1. Anxiety flowed through the core of his bones like lava —Calder Willingham
2. (It is in those marriages and love affairs which are neither good or bad … that) anxiety flows like a muddy river —Norman Mailer
3. Anxiety … is somewhat like a blow on the head —Delmore Schwartz
4. Anxiety moved like a current through his belly —Bernard Malamud
5. Anxiety receives them like a grand hotel —W. H. Auden
6. Anxious as a law associate during his sixth year with a major law firm —Elyse Sommer
7. Anxious as an aspiring Miss Universe contestant sequestered in a soundproof booth and brought out moments later to tell what she loves most about America —Susan Barron, New York Times/Hers
8. Anxious as a mid-level manager in a corporate takeover —Mike Sommer
9. Anxious as an investor watching his stock go down —Anon
10. Anxious as a taxpayer with an audit notice from the IRA —Anon
11. As worried as she would have been over a lover she had cared for passionately —Sumner Locke Elliott
12. A case of the dreads so thick they seemed to whistle out the heating ducts and swarm the room like a dark mistral —Richard Ford
13. Desperation rising from him like a musk —Paule Marshall
14. A feeling of foreboding … like a wind stirring the tapestry, an ominous chill —Evelyn Waugh
15. A feeling of vague anxiety … snuffling about me like cold-nosed rodents, like reading of a favorite baseball player whose star has descended to the point where he parks cars at a restaurant or sits in a room above a delicatessen in Indianapolis, drinking vodka and waiting for his pension —W. P. Kinsella
16. Felt as if a serpent had begun to coil round his limbs —George Eliot
17. Felt as if her nerves were being stretched more tightly, like strings on violin pegs —Leo Tolstoy
18. Felt chilled as by the breath of death’s head —Victor Hugo
19. Felt like a switchboard with all my nerves on Emergency Alert —Dorothy B. Francis
20. Frantic as a mouse in a trap —Anon
21. Had a chill and heavy feeling in his stomach like a lump of lead —Vicki Baum
22. Her mild, constant worries had engraved no lines in her bisque china face but had gradually cracked it like a very old plate —Lael Tucker Wertenbaker
23. His heart seemed to slide like the hook on a released pulley —Frank Swinnerton
24. I’m’bout as worried as a pregnant fox in a forest fire —Peter Benchley
25. Over it [a face that had looked hopeful] now lay like a foreign substance a film of anxiety —Thomas Hardy
26. Second-hand cares, like second-hand clothes, come easily off and on —Charles Dickens
27. Stress is like an iceberg. We can see one-eighth of it above, but what about what’s below —Patrice O’Connor
28. Suspended in his own anxiety as if in a cloudy solution of some acid —Lawrence Durrell
29. There is the same pain and panic (when your computer locks up) as when you have an attack of appendicitis —Brendan Gill quoted New York Times, August 2, 1986 in article by William E. Geist about a man (computer tutor Bruce Stark,) who helps people with their computer problems.
    This is typical of similes that are borrowed and modified to fit a personal sphere of interest.
30. Unease … it slipped out without his being able to control it, like sweat from his pores —Clive Barker
31. Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere —Anon

(See also FEAR.)

butterflies A queasy feeling in the stomach caused by anxiety, nervousness, fear, or excitement; the jitters, the willies, the heebie-jeebies; usually in the phrase to have butterflies in one’s stomach. The term, in use since 1908, provides an apt description of the fluttering sensation felt in the pit of the stomach during times of extreme anxiety or nervous tension.

cliff-hanger Any event or situation in which the outcome is suspensefully uncertain up until the very last moment. The term was originally applied to a serial film in which each episode ended with the hero or heroine left in a perilous plight, such as hanging from a cliff, so that the viewers anxiously awaited the next installment. The extended figurative sense of the term, and the only one commonly heard today, has been in use since at least 1948.

fussy as a hen with one chick Overprotective, overanxious, overparticular and fussy. A hen with one chick, as any mother with only one child, tends to be more possessive and protective than a parent with many offspring. This tendency usually manifests itself in finicky, fretful behavior.

get the wind up To be nervous; to be distressed or anxious. This British expression is similar to the American slang jumpy ‘tense, edgy.’ An analogous British colloquialism, put the wind up, carries a somewhat stronger sense of dread or fright.

high-strung Nervous, tense, edgy; thin-skinned, sensitive, spirited. This expression, dating from the late 14th century, literally means ‘strung to a high tension or pitch.’ The allusion is probably to stringed musical instruments: the tighter the string, the higher the pitch. Taut strings are also more brittle and thus more likely to break.

keyed up Excited, high-strung; nervous, tense; intensified, stimulated; psyched up (for), full of nervous energy and anticipation. The verb key refers literally to tuning a musical instrument —that is, raising or lowering the pitch. Since the 17th century this term has been applied figuratively to a person’s thoughts and feelings that affect the overall color or tone of his mood. Thus “key up” is to heighten, intensify, or stimulate feelings.

like a cat in a strange garret Uneasy, nervous; fearful, afraid. This expression is an allusion to the behavior of a cat in strange surroundings. The March 16, 1824 edition of the Woodstock [Vermont] Observer contains the phrase:

like a cat on a hot tin roof Very uncomfortable, uneasy, nervous. This self-evident expression is a more current variant of like a cat on hot bricks. The latter dates from 1862 and has the additional meanings ‘swiftly, nimbly.’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was the title of a 1955 play by Tennessee Williams.

on pins and needles Apprehensive, anxious; in a state of nervous or uneasy anticipation; on tenterhooks. Pins and needles refers to the tingly, prickly sensation felt in the arms and legs when they are recovering from having been numbed or “asleep.” Although a person who is “on pins and needles” might not be experiencing the attendant physical sensations, the expression implies that he is.

on tenterhooks Taut with anxiety; in a state of painful suspense of expectation; tense, uneasy, on edge. Tenterhooks are literally the hooks of a tenter, i.e., the frame on which cloth is stretched to shape it. The word was used figuratively as early as the late 17th century; The Winthrop Papers records a 1692 usage of “the tenterhooks of expectation” by G. Saltonstall. In Roderick Random (1748) Tobias Smollett writes:

Eventually such explanatory phrases became elliptically understood, leaving us with the now common on tenterhooks.

on the anxious seat In a state of apprehension or suspense; in a state of difficulty or doubt. The figurative expression derives from the literal anxious seat or bench, or mourners’ bench, of American revivalist camp meetings, on which penitents desirous of forgiveness and seeking conversion were wont to sit while anxiously awaiting the call or sign of salvation. The term was used in its still current figurative sense early in this century:

on the rack Under great pressure or strain; in painful suspense or acute psychological torment; on tenterhooks; tense, anxious, nervous. The rack, a former instrument of torture, consisted of a frame with rollers at either end to which the victim’s ankles and wrists were attached in order to stretch his joints. The expression on the rack was used figuratively for psychological suffering as early as the 16th century.

the screaming meemies Excessive fretfulness or uneasiness; the jitters, the heebie-jeebies; fear-induced delirium. In World War II, American soldiers originated this phrase as a nickname for the German rocket shells. The terrifying noise and devastating effect of these weapons caused anyone within earshot to be petrified with fear. While the expression is still used today for dread and horror, it is occasionally applied jocularly to the extremes of other emotional states, such as frightful boredom.

sit tight See PATIENCE

sit upon hot cockles See IMPATIENCE.

sweat blood To worry or agonize; to be apprehensive or anxious; to be heavy-hearted; to be under a great strain. This expression and its variant, a bloody sweat, allude to Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane:

These expressions have been used figuratively in various contexts, most of which refer to suffering occasioned by awaiting a likely, if not inevitable, fate.