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.

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.

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

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.