More on Cross as the Tongs from Infoplease:

• Cross as the Tongs - Cross as the Tongs The reference is to tongs which open like a pair of scissors. Source: Dictionary ...
• Hammer - Hammer (Anglo-Saxon, hamer.) (1) Pierre d'Ailly, Le Marteau des Hérétiques, ...
• Similes - Similes in common use: BALD as a coot. BITTER as gall,soot. BLACK as ink, as a coal, as a crow ...
• Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: C - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "C"