rain

See Also: WEATHER

1. As if a mask had been peeled off, the rain ended —Tim O’Brien
2. Big soft drops splash on people’s hands and cheeks, immense warm drops like melted stars —Katherine Mansfield
3. Drizzle whispered upon Joseph’s umbrella like muffled applause —Rick Borsten
4. Droplets fired upon our windows like bullets of tin —Ira Wood
5. The drops like bugs stuck on the pane —F. D. Reeve
6. A dull rain, like a tap left running —Jean Thompson
7. Fall rain as fine as spray from an atomizer —Harvey Swados
8. Felt the rain like cold tears on his hot face —James Crumley
9. The good rain, like a bad preacher, does not know when to leave off —Ralph Waldo Emerson
10. The gray rain continued to fall, stubbornly and insensibly, like a frozen madness —Amos Oz
11. Hiss in the gutter [the rain] like a thousand coiled snakes —T. Coraghessan Boyle
12. It seemed as if the lowering clouds, heavy with water had burst, emptying upon the earth … melting it like sugar —Guy De Maupassant

    See Also: CLOUD(S)

13. Light rain fell around the big house and its trees like a veil —John McGahern
14. Light through which the slowing rain ran stitches like a sewing machine gone mad —Leslie A. Fiedler
15. The rain as thick as oil on the windows —Albert Camus
16. The rain beat down (on Paris) in endless steady sheets, straight down, like waterfalls —Sylvia Berkman

    A nice example of a simile to introduce a story and set its mood.

17. Rain … beating down like a stampede of horses —Paige Mitchell
18. The rain bites like a whip across a prisoner’s back —Anne Morrow Lindbergh
19. The rain came down like glass bead curtains —Joyce Cary
20. The rain came like an explosion in a glass factory —T. Coraghessan Boyle
21. The rain came sifting through the air, and settled like bloom on the fields —Mary Lavin

    Another rain simile to set a fictional scene, this one for Lavin’s story, Brigid.

22. The rain came slowly and doggedly down, as if it had not even the spirit to pour —Charles Dickens
23. Rain comes down like the sky falling in skeins and yarny drifts —Marge Piercy
24. Raindrops … as warm as the tears of a child not yet consoled —Marguerite Yourcenar
25. Rain drops down like worms from the trees —Anne Sexton
26. Raindrops hitting like bullets —Joyce Carol Oates
27. Raindrops, plump as Malaga grapes —Paul Kuttner
28. Raindrops pock the surface like a plague —T. Coraghessan Boyle
29. Raindrops sparkled like diamonds falling through sunshine —Rita Mae Brown
30. Raindrops tapped at our backs like insinuating fingers —T. Coraghessan Boyle
31. Raindrops that whined like bullets —Kenzaburo Oë
32. Rained like a cow pissing on a flat rock —American colloquialism
33. Rain falling just past the end of his nose like a curtain —Thomas McGuane
34. Rain … fell like a silver veil from the dim grey sky —Mazo De La Roche
35. Rain … fell like iron swords out of the black sky —Paul Theroux
36. Rain … flowing in streaked silver patterns down the panes of the window nearby, like tears on the smooth shining face of a child —Bill Pronzini
37. Rain … flying down like silver needles —Frank Swinnerton
38. Rain glimmered like silver threads being spun from the mist —Paige Mitchell
39. Rain … gold as the planet system —Dame Edith Sitwell
40. Rain hit the roof like pennies from heaven —T. Coraghessan Boyle
41. Rain keeps falling like a curse —Amos Oz
42. Rain knocked at the windows like a smirking voyeur —T. Coraghessan Boyle
43. Rain … like a river falling out of the sky —Donald Seaman
44. Rain … like a deluge from heaven —W. Somerset Maugham
45. Rain, like dark-ruled lines on paper —Stephen Longstreet
46. The rain like pitchforks fell —Delmore Schwartz
47. Rain plastered the land till it was shining like hammered lead —Ted Hughes
48. Rain poured down like a waterfall —Jilly Cooper
49. Rain ran from the roof like a sea —Irving Feldman
50. Rain … rattling hard first on one side and then on the other like someone nailing down a case —Saul Bellow
51. Rains drip like the slow beat of time —Dame Edith Sitwell
52. Rain sheeting down like a giant waterfall —Frank Swinnerton
53. The rains of summer’s end were very like tears, falling warm and gradually chilling where they fell —Lael Tucker Wertenbaker
54. Rain, so loud, like horses weeping —F. Scott Fitzgerald
55. Rainstorms that blacken like a headache —Amy Clampitt
56. The rain struck you so hard that it was like a warm gag in your mouth —Louis-Ferdinand Celine
57. The rain stung like whips, and from underfoot the mud oozed up over shoes and ankles like a live thing —Hugh Walpole
58. Rain … swept the deck in angry gusts, like a nagging woman who cannot leave a subject alone —W. Somerset Maugham
59. Rain thudded against the car like rotten fruit —Jean Thompson
60. The rain was blowing down the window glass like silk —Paul Horgan
61. Showers … drifting like scarves of gauze across the landscape —Jules Romains
62. A slanted sheet of rain swept like a scythe across Placid Cove Trailer Park —John Lutz

    The scene being set with this simile is for a mystery story entitled Ride the Lightning.

63. The sound of rain seemed … like the repeated attentions of a lover —John Cheever
64. A squall of rain driven around us in gusts like a wet veil —Erich Maria Remarque
65. Through the mist it was as if fine threads of rain were being teased down slowly —John McGahern
66. Torrents of rain streamed through the darkness, like incessant floods of tears which threatened to devour the earth and drown it in a deluge of unquenchable grief —Vladimir G. Korolenko
67. The [rain] water was loud as a crowd hissing —Susan Minot
68. When it rains, there’s a wonderful lush wooden wetness in the air, and you feel as refreshed as if you were the earth itself, drinking in the water —Christopher Isherwood
69. The wind-blown rain was smeared like jam on the glass [of the window] —Jonathan Valin