Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Reel
Reeling as a clubbed man reels before he collapses.
—Joseph Conrad
Reel like masts on ocean’s swell.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes
Reeling, to and fro, like a reed.
—Victor Hugo
He reels like a ship that has met with waves raised by the southeast wind.
—Osmanli Proverb
Reel like a leaf that’s drawn to a water-wheel.
—Christina Georgina Rossetti
Reels as any reed under the wind.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Reeled
As waves wind-thwarted on the sea.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Reels like a falling cedar.
—Torquato Tasso
Reels, as the golden Autumn woodland reels
Athwart the smoke of burning weeds.
—Alfred Tennyson
Reel to and fro and stagger like a drunkard.
—Old Testament