noise

See Also: IRRITABLENESS

1. Applause … like pebbles being rattled in a tin —Francis King
2. Blare, like the clearing of a monstrous throat —Richard Wilbur
3. (The crowd laughing and) boo-boo-booming like frogs in a barbershop quartet —Ken Kesey
4. Boomed like a split trombone —O. Henry
5. Boom like a military band —W. H. Auden
6. A branch creaked … like someone turning over in bed —Jonathan Valin
7. Broke into a long roar like the falling of the walls of Jericho —Katherine Anne Porter
8. (The house-phone … ) buzzed like an angry hornet —Cornell Woolrich
9. Cawing like a rook —Dame Edith Sitwell
10. [A dog’s teeth] chattered like barbers’ scissors —Frank Conroy
11. Clanged like fifty fire-engines —Herman Melville
12. Clanging [noise of truck backing out of driveway] like a half-dozen cowbells —Carolyn Chute
13. (Brake drums) clapped like cymbals —T. Coraghessan Boyle
14. Click like the snapping of a picture with an old box camera —W. P. Kinsella
15. A clopping sound … stung Lavinia’s nerves like a box on the ears —L. P. Hartley
16. Creaked like a saddle when he shifted —Wallace Stegner
17. Creak like a rusty engine —Franz Werfel
18. A dissonant chord, as if somebody stepped on a cat —George Garrett
19. Door slam … like the crack of a bat when the opposition has hit a homerun to beat the Mariners in the bottom of the ninth —Tom Robbins
20. (The phone’s) dull ring … like marbles rolling across a sheet of tin —Jean Thompson
21. Emitting throaty, explosive sounds like someone about to spit in someone else’s face —Natascha Wodin
22. Fitful, hacking noise, like a dog coughing up a bone —William Styron
23. Footsteps echoing like gunfire in a well —T. Coraghessan Boyle
24. Growling away like an old mastiff with a sore throat —Charles Dickens
25. Growling like a fox in a trap —William Diehl
26. (Water) gulped and hissed like a dozen Jacuzzis —T. Coraghessan Boyle
27. Heels ticking on the parquet floor like the clock of a time bomb —Margaret Millar
28. Her steps … made tiny, sharp pecky sounds, kind of like Mother drumming on the edge of the dinner table when Father tried to promote himself a second piece of pie —Raymond Chandler
29. The hinges and springs [of a door] screech like a woman with a hand over her mouth —Robert Campbell
30. Hissed like an adder —John D. MacDonald
31. (Tires) hissed like death —T. Coraghessan Boyle
32. (The sea) hissed like twenty thousand kettles —Joseph Conrad
33. Hisses and crackles like a doused campfire —Kate Wheeler
34. Hissing noise [as of crackling tissue paper] … was like a nail on glass to my nerves —Cornell Woolrich
35. Hum, like a devout crowd on its knees —Margaret Atwood
36. Like a log fire, the typewriter crackled —Delmore Schwartz

    If Delmore Schwartz were alive and keeping a diary today, instead of in 1944 when this entry was made, the crackling might well be from a computer keyboard instead of a typewriter.

37. (A beehive as) loud as an airfield —Maxine Kumin
38. Loud as gunfire —Reynolds Price
39. Loud as the last call of God —Harold Adams
40. A loud cracking sound, like a frozen river breaking up in spring —Andrew Kaplan
41. Loud … like a gun going off —Edith Wharton
42. Made a sound [in response to being kicked] like a sick cat —Loren D. Estleman
43. (A printer that) makes noise like a mad elephant —Edward Mendelson, reviewing computer products in Yale Review, 1985
44. Murmur like bees —Dame Edith Sitwell
45. (Through the audience went) a murmur, like the rustle of dead leaves —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
46. The noise cracked like a whip in the still room —Margaret Mitchell

    The noise Mitchell likened to the crack of a whip was made by Scarlett O’Hara when she slapped Ashley Wilkes’ face in the famous scene from Gone With the Wind when he rejects her declaration of love.

47. Noise dwindling like a cut-back motor —Rosellen Brown
48. The noise level was deafening … like some hideous unrelenting tape-loop of trains having sex —Ben Hamper in article on changes at GM, Mother Jones, September, 1986
49. Noises rise and are lost in the air like balloons —Albert Camus
50. Noise [of continuous lightning] that sometimes burst like metal fireworks —Marguerite Duras
51. (The city by day was as) noisy and busy as a pack of children —Sinclair Lewis

    See Also: BUSYNESS

52. (She would be as) noisy as a child at a playground —Helen Hudson
53. Noisy as a living skeleton having a fit on a hardwood floor —Leonard Washborn, reporting on 1880s baseball game for Interocean newspaper
54. Noisy as squirrels mating on a rooftop —Elyse Sommer
55. Noisy as the stock exchange —Augustine Bire
56. An occasional buzz [interrupting the silence] like an unheeded alarm clock —William Humphrey
57. Popping sounds, like hands clapped sharply together —W. P. Kinsella
58. [A typewriter] purrs like a seductive housecat —Tom Robbins
59. Rattling like a gong —Cynthia Ozick
60. Raucus whoop of children, spiteful and cruel like the sound of a lynch mob —Amos Oz

    See Also: CRUELTY, SCREAMS

61. Resounded like a gigantic trumpet —Emile Zola
62. Ring like bells of glass —Elinor Wylie
63. Rowdy as gulls —Marge Piercy
64. Rumble … like a monster growl —Susan Minot
65. (The fiddle) screeched like a thing in pain —Elizabeth Bowen
66. Screeching with a noise like a buzz saw cutting through a knot —William Humphrey
67. Screech, like a car shifting gears on a dangerous uphill road —Yehuda Amichai
68. Sickening screech [of ripping metal] … like the scream of a wounded beast —Richard Moran
69. Slammed the door after him like a six-gun salute —Cornell Woolrich
70. The slamming of the door sounded like the last crack of doom —Jimmy Sangster

    Sangster’s comparison begins the prologue to his mystery novel, private i, with a literal and figurative bang.

71. Snorted like a horse —Geoffrey Chaucer
72. The sound … filled the eardrums like wax —Wyatt Blassingame
73. Sound … it seemed to fill the vast room as breath fills a toy balloon —Frank Trippett
74. Sound like rhinos crashing into trees —Pauline Kael
75. The sounds [of the city] broke over her like a wave —Marguerite Yourcenar
76. Sounds came to me dully, as if people were speaking through their handkerchiefs or with their hands over their mouths —Maya Angelou
77. Sounds faded to a muffled warble, like a stream over pebbles —Curt Leviant
78. Sounds … grated and rumbled like a subway train —Norman Mailer
79. Sounds … hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife —Ambrose Bierce
80. The sound was hollow like the hammer on a coconut —Carson McCullers
81. The [baseball] stands sounded like a gigantic drawerful of voices that had suddenly been pulled open —Bernard Malamud
82. Static crackled along the line, like popcorn popping —William Diehl
83. The steady drone of the crowd, like bees humming —Anon
84. A steady murmur like the crowd noises made in a movie —Frank Conroy
85. Tapping and ticking like nervous fingers —Sylvia Plath
86. A thin plaintive sound, like a starved cat —Raymond Chandler
87. The thud of her heart in her ears like wet dirt slapped with a spade —Reynolds Price
88. Ticking [of clock] … sounds like a convict rhythmically pounding a rock —W. P. Kinsella
89. Twitter like bats —Angela Carter
90. Whirring, like the buzz of a giant wasp —Eddie Cohen
91. A whoop woke me up … as if I’d been prodded by a cattle rod —W. P. Kinsella