Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Start
Start like sparkles from a fire.
—George Chapman
Start as from some dreadful dream.
—John Dryden
Starting as at the sight of an enemy.
—Alexandre Dumas, père
Start, like a frightened roe.
—Sir William Schwenk Gilbert
I started as one startles from a dream.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland
Starts like a ghost.
—Thomas Hood
Start like lightning greased.
—Thomas Hood
Start as flames from ashes.
—Henry W. Longfellow
Start and quiver, as when some ignorant hand touches the barb hid in a long healed wound.
—Dinah Maria Mulock
Started, like a greyhound from the slips when the sportsman cries halloo.
—Sir Walter Scott
Starts, like one that spies an adder.
—William Shakespeare
Start like a shying horse.
—August Strindberg
Started like a guilty thing.
—Mrs.
—Trollope
She starts like a sleeper who wakes from dreaming.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox