Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.

Active

Active as a boy climbing a crab-apple tree for a cargo of cramp-generators.
—Anonymous

Active as a fire department during a conflagration.
—Anonymous

Active as a pea in a bladder.
—Anonymous

Active as a pea on a griddle.
—Anonymous

Active as quicksilver.
—Anonymous

As active as the roe.
—Nathaniel Cotton

Active as some mind that turns a sphere.
—Abraham Cowley

Active as an ape.
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Active as a griffin.
—Thomas Hood

Active as light.
—Henry Vaughan

Active as the sun.
—Isaac Watts