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SIMILE
SIMILE. A FIGURE OF SPEECH, in which a more or less fanciful or unrealistic comparison is made, using like or as. Some dogs are like wolves is a realistic comparison and not a simile, but The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold (Byron) is a simile because neither savagery nor the Assyrian is physically like a wolf. Everyday usage is rich in similes, many of them idiomatic: (1) With like: spread like wildfire, sell like hot cakes, like a fish out of water (said of a person uneasy in an unfamiliar situation). (2) With as … as: as thick as thieves (of people cooperating closely), as strong as an ox (of someone very strong). See FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, METAPHOR.
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TOM McARTHUR. "SIMILE." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. TOM McARTHUR. "SIMILE." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-SIMILE.html TOM McARTHUR. "SIMILE." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-SIMILE.html |
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simile
simile, an object, scene, or action, introduced by way of comparison for explanatory, illustrative, or merely ornamental purpose, e.g. ‘as strong as an ox’, or more poetically, ‘The moon, like a flower | In Heaven's high bower | With silent delight | Sits and smiles on the night’ (Blake, ‘Night’, Songs of Innocence); or, in more Modernist vein, ‘the evening is spread out against the sky | Like a patient etherised upon a table’ ( T. S. Eliot, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’). See also epic simile.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "simile." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "simile." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-simile.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "simile." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-simile.html |
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simile
simile [Lat.,=likeness], in rhetoric, a figure of speech in which an object is explicitly compared to another object. Robert Burns's poem "A Red Red Rose" contains two straightforward similes: The epic, or Homeric, simile is an elaborate, formal, and sustained simile derived from those of Homer. |
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"simile." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "simile." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-simile.html "simile." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-simile.html |
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simile
sim·i·le / ˈsiməlē/ • n. a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox). ∎ the use of such a method of comparison. |
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"simile." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "simile." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-simile.html "simile." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-simile.html |
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simile
simile Figure of speech comparing two things. It differs from ordinary comparisons in that it compares, for effect, things usually considered dissimilar and sharing only one common characteristic, as, for example, in the phrase “his fleece was white as snow”. See also metaphor
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"simile." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "simile." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-simile.html "simile." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-simile.html |
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simile
simile, simili (It.). The same. Composer's direction in score to indicate that phrase, etc., is to be perf. in same manner as parallel preceding phrase, thus avoiding copying expression marks at each repetition.
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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "simile." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "simile." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-simile.html MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "simile." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-simile.html |
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simile
simile
•Billie, billy, Chile, chilli (US chili), chilly, Dili, dilly, filly, frilly, ghillie, gillie, Gilly, hilly, Lillee, lily, Lyly, papillae, Philly, Piccadilly, piccalilli, silly, skilly, stilly, Tilly, willy, willy-nilly
•Ridley, tiddly
•Brindley, spindly
•sniffly
•giggly, niggly
•jingly, shingly, Zwingli
•prickly, sickly
•crinkly, tinkly, twinkly, wrinkly
•dimly
•Finlay, inly, McKinlay
•musicianly
•kingly, tingly
•Shipley • pimply
•bristly, gristly
•princely • fitly
•drizzly, grisly, grizzly, Sisley
•Kingsley • Cybele • hillbilly • jubilee
•rockabilly • bodily
•bibliophily, cartophily, toxophily
•Galilee • family • stepfamily
•subfamily
•Emily, Semele
•facsimile, simile
•homily • contumely
•cicely, Sicily
•icily • volatile • Maithili • weevily
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"simile." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "simile." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-simile.html "simile." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-simile.html |
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