Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[mwey]

I'm reading Stephen King's novel: 'The Green Mile". When the main character (the jailor) describes a big black submissive prisoner, he says:

"My first thought was that he looked like a black Samson...only after Delilah had shaved him smooth as her faithless little hand and taken all the fun out of him."

I don't get the part "as her faithless little hand". I would expect after "as", there should be a complete sentence with verb in it, but there is not. Then I thought that probably "as" means "with", and "Only after Delilah had shaved him smooth with her faithless little hand" would make sense to me. But when I look up in the dictionary, never a definition refer "as" as "with". What does "as" mean here?

Thank you.

[pinenut]

[pugachevV]

It means that his head was shaved so that it was as smooth as the skin of her hand. It should really say "as smooth as", but the first as is often omitted.

[mwey]

Thanks a lot, Pinenut andpugachevV. It makes all sense now. There is nothing more frustrating than having looked up all the dictionary online and googled for a possible cue, and still can't find the answer.

Mark