silence

See Also: SECRECY

1. Behaved a little like a stuffed frog with laryngitis —P. G. Wodehouse
2. A brief silence, like an indrawn breath —Sylvia Plath
3. A brittle silence stretched like iced cords through the kitchen —Anthony E. Stockanes
4. Dole out his words like federal grants —Shelby Hearon
5. Dumb as a drum with a hole in it —Charles Dickens
6. Dumb as a yearning brute —Martin Cruz Smith
7. The enfolding silence was like an echo —William Styron
8. Fall silently, like dew on roses —John Dryden
9. A great painful silence came down, as after the ringing of a church bell —Loren D. Estleman
10. Grew still, like a congregation in silent prayer —Edgar Lee Masters
11. Hears the silence … like a heart that has ceased to beat —Joyce Carol Oates
12. (The room was suddenly full of … ) heavy silence, like a fallen cake —Raymond Chandler
13. Her silence bore down on him like a tombstone —Heinrich Böll
14. Her silence had a frequency all its own … like one of those dog whistles that make a sound only dogs can hear —a sound that cracked eggs, or something —Larry McMurtry
15. He tried to say something but his tongue hung in his mouth like a dried fruit on a tree —Bernard Malamud
16. (The crowded courtroom grew as) hushed and still as a deserted church —Robert Traver
17. Hushed like a holy place —Lynn Sharon Schwartz
18. A hush prevailed like that in an art gallery —Jean Stafford
19. A hush rose like a noisy fog —Bernard Malamud
20. I’ll be like an oyster —Ivan Turgenev

    The character making this statement in A Month in the Country underscores it with not another syllable.

21. Men fear silence as they fear solitude, because both give them a glimpse of the terror of life’s nothingness —André Maurois
22. Moving as silently as fish under water —Ross Macdonald
23. Mute like a faded tapestry —Louis MacNeice
24. Mute as a fish —John Melton
25. Mute as a gargoyle —Sharon Sheehe Stark
26. My tongue lay like a stone in my mouth —Pat Conroy
27. Noiseless as fear in a wilderness —John Keats
28. Quiet as the visible murmur is their vaporizing breath —William Faulkner
29. Quiet and meaningless as wind in dry grass —T. S. Eliot
30. Quiet as a lady’s fart —Harold Adams
31. Quiet as a lamb —William Langland
32. Quiet as a mouse —Anon
33. Quiet as an eel swimming in oil —Arthur Baer
34. Quiet as a nun —William Wordsworth

    English novelist Antonia Fraser borrowed Wordsworth’s simile for a mystery novel about a nun.

35. (It was) quiet as a prayer —Mary Lee Settle
36. (The whole immense room … was) quiet as a sepulchre —Walter De La Mare
37. Quiet as a stone —John Keats
38. Quiet as a street at night —Rupert Brooke
39. Quiet as a street of tombs in a buried city —John Ruskin
40. Quiet as a wasp in one’s nose —John Ray’s Proverbs
41. Quiet as a wooden-legged man on a tin roof —Anon

    This is one of many American folk similes incorporated by Carl Sandburg into his unique long poem, The People, Yes.

42. (The house was as) quiet as death, as the inside of a skull —John Fowles
43. Quiet as dust —Ken Kesey
44. (Her mind was) quiet, as if a needle had been lifted from a phonograph record —Ellen Gilchrist
45. (The town was all as) quiet as the hills —A. E. Coppard
46. Quiet as two tombs —Robert B. Parker
47. Quietly as a moth —Louis Bromfield
48. Quietly as smoke rising —Loren D. Estleman
49. Quiet … pressed on her eardrums like a weight —Hortense Calisher
50. Quiet settled in the room like snow —Rumer Godden
51. Significant silences like fingers that point —William Bronk
52. The silence seemed to come drifting down like flakes of snow —Katherine Mansfield
53. Silence fell like a guillotine in the middle of raw, bleeding conversations —Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
54. The silence around them, like the silence inside a mouth, squirms with colors —James Dickey
55. Silence as absolute as death —Robert Penn Warren
56. Silence as deep as held breath —John Yount
57. (It was Sunday, and there was a feeling of quietness,) a silence as though nature were at rest —W. Somerset Maugham
58. Silence beat about them like waves —Mavis Gallant
59. The silence between us … it lay coiled like a sleeping cat, graceful in its way but liable to claw if stroked indelicately —Scott Spencer

    See Also: PEOPLE, INTERACTION

60. Silence descending over the room like a blackwinged bird —John Rechy
61. Silence drifting in … settling like dust —Helen Hudson
62. The silence [at the other end of telephone] … felt absolute, as if he had been trying to telephone God —William Mcllvanney
63. Silence filled the space [of empty room] like water in a lock —Julia Whedon
64. Silence filled the sunlit room like gas —Harvey Swados
65. Silence grand as Versailles —Lorrie Moore
66. Silence heavy in the air like a threat —William Boyd
67. Silence … hung in the air like a dead pheasant —Penelope Gilliatt
68. Silence is deep as eternity —Thomas Carlyle
69. Silence is his delight and instruction now … as if a blessed quiet came to him like water made into music —George Garrett
70. Silence … like a great hand pressed across a mouth struggling to give vent to a scream —Stephen French Whitman
71. Silence … like an explosion —John Fowles
72. The silence like an ocean rolled, and broke against my ear —Emily Dickinson
73. The silence of the place was like a sleep, so full of rest it seemed —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
74. Silence … poured in between them like a drifting dune —Lawrence Durrell
75. The silence ran between them like a fuse —William McIlvanney
76. Silence, rather like somebody had died —Elizabeth Spencer
77. Silence … rich and winey, like a rest in music —Zona Gale
78. Silence rose like a mountain —Arthur A. Cohen
79. Silence settled on him like a mist —Frank Ross
80. Silence … so intense that it was like a third presence in the room —Antonia White
81. Silence so thick that he imagined he could cut a slice out of it, like a succulent melon —Ella Leffland
82. Silence … steadily filling up the bare white room, like water rising in a tank —Christopher Isherwood
83. Silence stretched out like membrane on the point of tearing —Ross Macdonald
84. Silence [in tension-filled room] stretched like a wire vibrating with impulses that were never heard —Hortense Calisher
85. Silence that falls between them … like deep snow —Donald Justice
86. Silence that fell upon her like a restraining hand —Nadine Gordimer
87. Silence that made his own breathing seem like the breaking of distant surf —Mark Helprin
88. Silence walked beside them like the ghost of a dead man —W. Somerset Maugham
89. The silence [in the room] was like an invasion, a possession by the great silent mountains —Gina Berriault
90. The silence was like a tranquilizer —Mignon F. Ballard
91. Silent as a burglar behind a curtain —Raymond Chandler
92. Silent as a cat on velvet —Reynolds Price
93. Silent as a country churchyard —Thomas Babington Macaulay
94. Silent as a ghost —Percy Bysshe Shelley
95. (Rooms) silent as a lantern —Daniela Gioseffi
96. Silent as a midnight thought —Anne Finch
97. Silent as a prisoner —Richard Ford
98. Silent as a snowflake settled on the ground —Donald Seaman
99. Silent as a standing pool —William Wordsworth
100. Silent as a stuffed sausage —Helen Hudson
101. Silent as a white shark —Diane Ackerman
102. Silent as despair —John Greenleaf Whittier
103. Silent as despairing love —William Blake

     A modern variant: “Silent as a breaking heart.”

104. Silent as flight —Wendell Berry
105. (An object) silent as pillows —Diane Wakoski
106. Silent as rain or fleece —Lawrence Durrell
107. [Thoughts] silent … as space —Lord George Byron

     Here is the complete simile as it appeared in Don Juan: “There was a depth of feeling to embrace … thoughts, boundless, deep, but silent too as space.”

108. Silent as the moon —John Milton

     Many writers continue to link the moon with silence, with frequent twists and extensions. Some examples from contemporary literature include: “She was as silent and distant as the moon” from a short story by Kate Wheeler and “Silent as the dark side of the moon” from Water Music by T. Coraghessan Boyle.

109. Silent as the pictures on the wall —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
110. Silent as the rays of the sun —Slogan, Silent Glow Oil Burner Corporation
111. Silent as thought —Sir William Davenant
112. Silent as your shadow —Colley Cibber
113. Silent … like an empty room —Carlos Baker
114. Silent like a stockpiled bomb —C.D.B. Bryan
115. Silently as a dream —William Cowper

     “Silent as a dream” variations include: “Dumb as a dream” by Algernon Charles Swinburne and “Mute as any dream” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

116. (Made his way through the yard as) silently as a tom-cat on the prowl —Donald Seaman
117. Silently as a turtle —John Hersey
118. Silent men, like still waters, are deep and dangerous —H. G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
119. (The crowd was) silent … totally, in a hush like the air in the treetops —Paul Horgan
120. A small silence came between us, as precise as a picture hanging on a wall —Jean Stafford
121. So quiet … it felt like Sunday without church —Elizabeth Spencer
122. (You were) so silent it was like playing with a snowman —Martin Cruz Smith
123. Soundless as a gong before it’s struck —Donald Justice
124. Soundless as any breeze —Dame Edith Sitwell
125. The sound of the silence was like the hum of her own nerves stretched taut —William Humphrey
126. Speechless as an anchorite —Lawrence Durrell
127. Speechless as though his tongue were paralyzed —Ouida
128. Stealthy silence as of a neatly executed crime —Joseph Conrad
129. (The house was) still as a bottomless well —Hugh Walpole
130. Still as a desert —Anon
131. Still as a mouse —Richard Flecknoe

     An extension of this by Sir Walter Scott: “Quiet as a mouse in a hole.”

132. Still as a stone —The Holy Bible/Exodus
133. Still as mourners —Mark Strand
134. Still as the grave —William Shakespeare
135. Still like gulls —W. H. Auden
136. Stillness struck like a stopped guitar —Sharon Sheehe Stark
137. A sudden silence … shook them like an inaudible explosion —Frank Tuohy
138. There seemed to be a lot of silence in the house, like something deep and sticky you had to wade through —Jane Rogers
139. There was absolute silence. It said as plainly as if silence were a language itself, “Go back.” —Flannery O’Connor
140. (They walk close together,) silent as painted people —Julie Hayden
141. Tight-lipped as a Sioux —Charles Johnson
142. Tongues tight as immigrants —Daniel Berrigan
143. Untalkative as native Vermonters —Max Lerner on commuters
144. Unheard like dog whistles pitched too high for human ears —George Garrett
145. Uses silence like a blackjack —Tim O’Brien
146. Vocal chords seem glued together like two uncut pages in a book —Elyse Sommer
147. Withdraw behind a wall of silence like children confronted with the disapproval of an authority figure —Margaret Millar

(See also SECRECY.)

have an ox on the tongue See BRIBERY.

lose one’s tongue To lose temporarily the power of speech, to be struck dumb. Such speechlessness is usually attributed to emotions such as shyness, fear, or surprise.

pipe down To become quiet or mute; to cease talking. In this expression, pipe may carry any of its numerous sound-related meanings, ranging from a shrill noise to the vocal cords themselves. In contemporary usage, the phrase is most often imperative.

see a wolf To temporarily lose one’s voice, to become tongue-tied. The phrase expresses the old belief that if a man saw a wolf before the wolf’saw him, the man would temporarily lose the power of speech. The expression dates from the late 16th century.