Billions of Years

In George Orwell’s essay “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad,” he said, “The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun.”

Orwell’s words may not last forever, but we’ll continue to go round the sun for billions of years, and that means the sun will continue to play an important role in writing and poetry.

In the second part of this sun-words post, you’ll find verbs, nouns, props, clichés, and idioms.

See also [1200+ Ways to Describe the Sun Part 1]

The Versatility of Verbs and Phrasal Verbs

The sun — literal and literary — moves, causes reactions in humans and animals, and evokes emotions. Some verbs could appear in all three of the following sections, but for brevity, I chose a single section for most verbs.

For example, let’s consider wake:

Every morning, the sun wakes the flowers and bees.

The sun wakes, and the night retreats.

Morning wakes the sun and puts dreams to flight.

Verbs (1): Transitive Verbs Whose Subject Could Include Sun or Suns

Transitive verb: a verb that takes one or more direct objects.

The following verbs and phrasal verbs, which take direct objects, reveal how the sun interacts with people and the environment.

For example:

The sun burst from the clouds and warmed the frigid coast.

The omnipresent sun worried Nathan. His water bottle was empty.

A and B

accelerate, advance across, affect, aggravate, alarm, align with, alleviate, annihilate, appear (above, in), approach, assault, assuage, bake, beat (down on, upon), bedazzle, beset, bestride, blanch, blast, blazon, bleach, blind, blister, boil, bombard, braise, brighten, broil, browbeat, brush, brutalize, burn, burnish, burst (from, out of)

C

captivate, caress, cascade (out of, over), chafe, chap, char, charm, cheer, choke, circle, cleanse, coast (across, into, over), comfort, conquer, crack, crawl (across, behind, out of, over, through), creep (across, behind, through), cremate, crest, crisp, cross, crouch in, cruise (across, into, out of, over), curdle, cure

D

damage, dance in, dawn (behind, in, over), daze, dazzle, deceive, decimate, defeat, delight, delude, demolish, demoralize, depress, descend (behind, into), desert, despoil, destroy, devastate, deviate from, dip (behind, below), disappear (behind, in), dispel, disperse, disrupt, dissipate, distort, distract, dog, doom, doze (behind, in), draw, drift (across, behind, over), droop (above, below), drop below, drown, dry

E

elicit, eliminate, embark on, emblazon, emerge (from, out of), emit, encourage, energize, enflame, engulf, enkindle, enliven, envelop, eradicate, escort, evaporate, exasperate, expel, explode with, expose

F

fade, fascinate, fatigue, feed, feel like, fill, flee (across, before, from), flicker (above, behind, in), float (across, in, over), flood, flower (above, in), flush, fly (above, across, through, under), forbode, forebode, foreshadow, forewarn, forge (across, through), frighten, fry, fuel

G to I

germinate, gild, gladden, glance off, gleam (from, in, on), gobble up, govern, greet, grill, guide, hamper, hang in, haunt, heat, herald, hinder, hit, hound, hover (above, in), hurt, ignite, illuminate, immolate, impact, incapacitate, inch (across, over), incinerate, inflame, influence, infuse, inspire, interfere with, inundate, invade, invigorate, invite, irk, irradiate, issue from

K to M

kill, kindle, kiss, lag behind, languish (above, on), lap, laser (into, through), leach, leak (into, through), leather, leave, leer at, liberate, lick, lie (above, across, over), light, lighten, linger on, loiter (above, in, on), loom (above, in, on), materialize (above, in, over), meander (across, over, through), melt, mesmerize, migrate (away from, toward), move (across, past, through), mummify

N to P

near, nourish, nurture, orbit, overheat, overlook, overpower, overtake, paint, parade (across, over, through), parch, pass (over, through), peek out of, peep out of, penetrate, perambulate (around, through), permeate, pervade, pierce, pirouette (above, across, over), plague, plow through, plunge (behind, into, off), poach, portend, pour (into, onto, over, through), power, presage, prevent, prey upon, probe, prohibit, prowl (across, over, through), purify, pursue, putrefy

Q and R

quicken, race (across, over, through), radiate, raise [the humidity, the temperature], ravage, raze, reach (into), rebound (from, off), reel (across, in), refresh, regulate, reign (in, over), reinvigorate, rejuvenate, rekindle, remain (above, in), remelt, renew, resemble, restore, retreat (behind, below), reveal, revitalize, revive, revolve around, roam (across, over, through), roast, rocket (across, over, through), rouse, rove (across, over, through), ruin, rule, rush (across, over, through)

Sa to Sl

sail (across, over, through), saturate, sauté, scald, scorch, scud (across, over, through), sear, shine (into, through), shower, silhouette, simmer (in, over), singe, sit (atop, in, over), skate (across, over, through), skid (across, over, through), skim, skirt, slacken, sleep (behind, in), slice through, slide (across, over, through), slink (across, over, through), slip (behind, below, down, under), slither (across, over, through)

Sm to Sy

smelt, smile (in, upon), smirk at, smite [dated], snuff out, soak, soar (above, across, in), splash, squat on, stalk, steam (down on, out of, through), stimulate, sting, strafe, straggle (out of, through), streak, stream (into, through), stun, submerge (behind, in), suffuse, supplant, surge (across, toward), surprise, swallow, swamp, sweep (across, over), symbolize

T to Z

taunt, tease, tepefy, terrorize, thaw, threaten, tinge, toast, torment, torture, touch, toughen, transform into, traverse, trickle (into, over, through), trigger, tyrannize, unleash, vacate, vaporize, wake, waken, wander (across, over, through), warm, warp, wash over, weave (across, between, through), wheel (above, down to, in, past), wilt, wither, wizen, worry, zap, zoom (across, over, through)

Verbs (2): Intransitive Verbs Whose Subject Could Include Sun or Suns

Intransitive verb: a verb that doesn’t take a direct object.

For example:

During the interminable winter at the North Pole, the sun disappears.

The sun retreated, and the storm advanced.

A to I

appear, ascend, awake, blaze, bloom, blossom, blush, climb, cool, darkle, depart, descend, die, dim, disappear, dwindle, expand, explode, fade, fall, fizzle, flame, flare, flash, frizzle, gee, glow, go down, grin, grow, grow hot, grow warm, haw, incandesce, intensify

L to Y

linger, persist, plummet, rage, reappear, reawaken, redden, reemerge, retreat, return, rise, rotate, set, shine, shrink, sizzle, sleep, slumber, smolder, sparkle, spin, struggle, subside, vanish, wane, waver, wax hot, weaken, wester, whiten, wink, wither, yaw, yellow

Verbs (3): Transitive Verbs Whose Object Could Include Sun or Suns

For example:

A multicolored halo encircled the sun.

Many ancient cultures worshipped the sun.

A to D

abhor, acclimate to, adapt to, admire, appreciate, avoid, await, bask in, bathe in, battle, behold, beseech, blacken, blemish, block, blot out, blur, capture, catch, celebrate, chase, circle, cloud, color, conceal, cover, curse, darken, defy, deify, depend on, describe, detect, detest, diffract, diffuse, discover, disregard, dream about, drench in

E to R

eclipse, encircle, encompass, enjoy, evade, extinguish, face, fear, fight, filter, fleck, follow, forget, glimpse, grow accustomed to, harness, hide, laze in, liberate (from), loathe, locate, loll in, lounge in, map, mask, mirror, notice, obliterate, obscure, observe, orbit, outlast, outrun, outshine, overcast, overcloud, photograph, react to, recoil from, reflect, refract, relax in, resent, revel in, revere, revile, revolve around, ring, risk, rival

S to W

sacrifice to, salute, search for, see, seek, serve, shadow, shroud, shy away from, sight, spot, squint at, stare at, study, sunbathe in, swelter in, swim in, tolerate, track, uncover, veil, venerate, view (in, with), visualize, warm in, watch, welcome, withstand, worship

Nouns

Writing or poetry might reference parts or features of the sun such as:

C to S

chromosphere, convection zone, core, corona, coronal hole, flares, photosphere, prominence, radiative zone, subsurface flows, sun spots

Many of the following words and phrases could be expanded into similes or metaphors.

B to G

beaming balloon, celestial explosion of brilliance, celestial nuclear reactor, celestial sphere, daystar, diamond disk, fiery ball, fiery Frisbee, fireball, flaming wheel, gaseous orb, Giver of Light, glassy globe, glowing gem, golden medallion

I to Y

inferno in the sky, luminary [dated], luminous wanderer, mock sun, nuclear furnace, parhelion, red dwarf, smoldering spheroid, Sol, spotlight in the ether, star of Earth, sundog, supergiant, white dwarf, yellow dwarf

Props

Well-chosen props augment a story by sparking new twists or subplots:

The sun shines into the eyes of a teenage driver and causes a freeway pileup. We could add tension or humor by placing an unusual vehicle behind the driver: an off-duty EMT in a hearse? a driving examiner on a scooter? a family member driving a getaway car?

Tires in a recycling center catch fire. At first, the sun is blamed for igniting the blaze, but a firefighter suspects arson. What happens next?

A marathon runner applies sunblock and then collapses with an apparent heart attack. Turns out the sunblock was poisoned. Details?

A to G

airplane, balloons, bats, bikini, blimp, boiling radiator, car hood, clothesline, cruise ship, dogsled race, drought, eclipse, equinox, flagperson, flash flood, forest fire, freckles, freeway pileup, garden, geomagnetic storm, getaway car, glacier

H to P

hearse, hiking, hot-air balloons, ice fishing, magnifying glass, marathon, migrating birds, mirror, mountain climbing, oasis, ocean voyage, overheating engine, pavement, photokeratitis, photovoltaic power station, prism

S to Z

scooter, skiing, skin cancer, snow, snow blindness, solar panels, solstice, spring flood, storm, sunblock, sunscreen, surfing, swimming, tent, tires in recycling depot, treasure hunt, tsunami, umbrella, unusual sunspot activity, zinc oxide

Clichés and Idioms

During revision of your WIP, you might discover a glut of sun clichés and idioms. Here are a few you could replace.

everything under the sun: all things, everything [a non-gradable pronoun]

in the sun: openly, publicly, visibly

moment in the sun: fleeting fame, temporary success, short-lived popularity

one’s sun has set: fame has faded; success has disappeared; popularity has vanished

to catch the sun: tan, sunbathe

to go to bed with the sun: retire early; go to bed at sundown

to have a place in the sun: be lucky; experience prosperity; achieve success

to head for the setting sun: travel west [to elude law enforcement]

to make hay while the sun shines: capitalize on an advantage; seize an opportunity

to rise with the sun: get up early; rise when the birds sing

to soak up the sun: tan, sunbathe

to think the sun rises and sets on someone: admire, venerate, worship

touch of the sun: mild sunstroke

under the sun: abiding, existing, extant, on Earth

See also [1200+ Ways to Describe the Sun Part 1]