American Heritage Dictionary
(1)
Century Dictionary
(4)
GNU Webster's 1913
(1)
WordNet
(1)
Elsewhere on the web
The lower part was covered with a short, curling, sparse black beard; the eyes were like"--she searched for a simile--"like a snake's That's graphic enough," I said; "but the description fits no countenance that I can now call to mind What can it mean?"— The Paternoster Ruby
But do not think because I have no patience--do not think because I am an old--an old--" He searched in his mind for a simile, and burst out with "gas-balloon" with a laugh of childish amusement at his own impetuosity.— In Direst Peril
Lewis and Short point out that Cicero uses the word in similar contexts only as a simile: compare Brut 33 'ante hunc [_sc Isocratem] enim uerborum quasi structura et quaedam ad numerum conclusio nulla erat', Or 149 '_quasi structura quaedam_', and Opt Gen 5 'et uerborum est structura quaedam' There are two instances in Ovid of struere with a similar meaning, both from the Ex Ponto_.— The Last Poems of Ovid
This simile was further borne out by the dense volumes of tobacco smoke in which the captain enveloped himself, and through which his red visage loomed over the edge of the hammock like a lurid setting sun For a few minutes the clouds continued to multiply and thicken.— Philosopher Jack
"You know that capes have a queer way of sticking out suddenly from land, just as men's noses stick out from their faces True, Benjy, true, but your simile is not perfect, for men's noses don't always stick out from their faces--witness the nose of Butterface, which, you know, is well aft of his lips and chin.— The Giant of the North Pokings Round the Pole

American Heritage Dictionary (1)
Century Dictionary (2)
Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year
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You can expect to see this word about twice a month.
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