Glitter and Gloss

See Also: BRIGHTNESS, LIGHTING, SHINING

1. Aglow, like fruit when it colors —William Canton
2. All ablaze like poppies in the sun —Ouida
3. All glittering like May sunshine on May leaves —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
4. Beams like flowers —Percy Bysshe Shelley
5. (Bright faces cast a thousand) beams upon me, like the sun —William Shakespeare
6. Blazing like a jewelled sun —W. S. Gilbert
7. Blinking like a digital display —Natascha Wodin
8. A dull sheen, like the white of a hard-boiled egg —T. Coraghessan Boyle
9. (Eyes) flashed like lightning —Honoré de Balzac
10. Flashy as the slot machines in a gambling casino —Anon
11. (Evening) flickers like the midnight sun —Karl Shapiro
12. Gleam and glitter … like jewels in a dark velvet case —Louis Auchincloss
13. (His hair) gleamed like a freshly washed blackboard —Mavis Gallant
14. [A car] gleamed like a jewel in a box with an iridescent lining —Robin McCorquodale
15. (The Hyde Park Library, which was) gleaming like a chrome fender in the afternoon sun —Jonathan Valin
16. Gleaming like light on water —Beryl Markham
17. Gleaming like oil on water —Erica Jong
18. Gleaming like raw meat —James Crumley
19. Gleaming like water over moon-bright sand —Robert Penn Warren
20. Gleam like bone —Donald McCaig
21. Gleam like small change —Sylvia Plath
22. (The token woman) gleams like a gold molar in a toothless mouth —Marge Piercy
23. Gleams like a small coin —Philip Levine
24. Gleams like the cared-for brass of bank buildings —George Garrett
25. (The necklace) gleams, sharp as malice —Louise Erdrich
26. (Water) glimmered like a shower of diamonds in the broken moonlight —Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
27. Glimmer … like glow worms twinkling through the shade —Sir Walter Scott
28. Glimmer, sparkled like a matrix of platinum sequins laid over velvet —Richard Ford The sparkling place described is Oaxaca.
29. (Eyes … ) glinted … like crumpled tinfoil —Susan Neville
30. (Helmets) glinted like nailheads —Derek Walcott
31. [Shoulders] glisten as silver —D. H. Lawrence
32. Glistened, like a globe of burnished gold —Edgar Allan Poe
33. Glistened like an oiled plum —Jerzy Kosinski The descriptive frame of reference in The Painted Bird, the novel from which this is taken, is a snake’s head.
34. (The empty pavement that) glistened like a wet leather strap —Tadeusz Borowski
35. [A dog’s coat] glistened like black velvet —Roald Dahl
36. (Her neck and shoulders) glistened like liquor in a crystal bottle —Paige Mitchell
37. (Peas) glistened like medieval enamels —Mark Helprin
38. Glistened like the sun in water —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
39. (The van) glistening like opal —MacDonald Harris
40. Glistening like satin —Ouida
41. Glisten like melted butter —Marilyn Hacker
42. [Hair] glisten like sunshine —D. H. Lawrence
43. Glistens like the scaling of a snake —Mihail Lermontov In Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time, the comparison refers to a river.
44. (Eyes) glittered like a string of Christmas tree icicles —Donald McCaig
45. Glittered like bracelets —Hans Christian Andersen
46. Glittered like confetti —Lawrence Durrell
47. Glittered like steel struck with a bright light —Honoré de Balzac
48. The glitter of the sea was like glass in my eyes —Steve Erickson
49. Glittering like armor —Frank O’Hara
50. [Fruit wet with mist] glowed like a globe of fire —Philip Levine
51. Glowed like painted glass —Lincoln Kirstein
52. Glowed like somebody had polished her —J. B. Priestly The narrator of Priestly’s Lost Empires is describing a showgirl in her costume.
53. Glowed like the initials of an illuminated manuscript —Edmund L. Pearson
54. (His head) glowing like a red sun —Bernard Malamud
55. Glow like a sunbeam —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
56. Glow, like moths by light attracted and repelled —Percy Bysshe Shelley
57. (Water) glows … like a crystal ball —Edward Hoagland
58. Glows like a drunk’s nose —Hank Searls
59. Glows like a meteor in the distant North —William Blake
60. Lights glittering like Oz —Diane Ackerman
61. Polished like new boots —John Ciardi
62. Shimmered like the wing of a dragonfly —Eudora Welty
63. Shimmer like a vision —John Gardner
64. Sparkled like stars —Percy Bysshe Shelley
65. (Four tiny black-eyed girls … ) twinkling like Christmas trees —Hart Crane