lick
/lɪk
/verb [with object]
1Pass the tongue over (something) in order to taste, moisten, or clean it: he licked the stamp and stuck it on the envelope...
- I edged away as far as I could get, finished my chips, and decided that I'd pass on licking my fingers clean.
- I wondered if they ever got splinters in their tongues from licking the wooden bowls clean.
- He now always licks the lenses clean with his tongue before wiping them on a cloth.
Synonyms
tongue, wet, moisten, wash, clean;
taste, lap, slurp
1.1 [no object, with adverbial of direction] (Of a flame, wave, or breeze) move lightly and quickly like a tongue: the flames licked around the wood...
- With a ‘whoosh’, the dried wood and grasses caught fire, and the flames licked around the pyre.
- He dropped the fireball, the ground erupting in a fierce inferno, brutal flames licking at the surrounding trees with their fiery tongues.
- When firefighters arrived thick smoke was billowing from the windows of three floors and flames were licking from the ground floor of the building, which is understood to be used as a market hall.
Synonyms
flicker, play, flick, flit, dart, ripple, dance
2 informal Overcome (a person or problem) decisively: all right Mary, I know when I’m licked the Chancellor said that the government had inflation licked...
- After not beating Leicester for 13 years, Gregory thought he had them licked when his side equalised 15 minutes from time.
- Well, I'm sure with counseling and stuff, you're going to lick this.
- So you can take the entire project on a disk and a laptop to your villa in Portugal and edit cost-free till you feel you've licked it.
2.1Beat or thrash (someone): she stands tall and could lick any man in the place...
- I hope that the brevity of this war does not convince Americans that we can lick anybody on the block.
- If you see him, lick him with a stone or something.
- He said that these same parishioners would eventually turn around and lick him with some big stones.
2.2 (lick someone/thing down) West Indian Cut or knock someone or something down: the boy was quiet, but if you cross he path, he lick you down...
- The Atlantic coast of the island is not that great for swimming, a bit too rough, and hence, one evening I did walk in waist high, but the waves were licking me down so I didn't tarry.
noun
1An act of licking something with the tongue: Sammy gave his fingers a lick...
- She nudged him with her nose, and gave him a brief lick of her long tongue before turning and trotting away.
- I extracted slow licks from a single scoop of vanilla.
- Kevin tried to intercede at one point but got his head covered with big wet sloppy tongue licks for his trouble.
1.1A quick movement of flame, water, etc. a tiny lick of flame flickered round the mouth of the flame-thrower...
- His eyes were transfixed in a blank stare, not seeming to recognize anything around him, but focused intently upon the licks of flame that jumped and fluttered off of the burning wood beneath the cooking grate.
- To hundreds of varieties of eucalyptus, acacia, wattles, banksia trees, grasses and weeds, the lick of flame is a welcome trigger that kindles life in their seed pods and generates ash to fertilise the soil.
- My mother was standing at the kitchen window watching a column of thick black smoke rising into the sky, punctuated by the odd lick of flame.
2 informal A light coating or quick application of something, especially paint: she needed to give the kitchen a lick of paint...
- Then, a couple of years ago, it had a lick of paint and a bit of internal surgery and, lo and behold, it changed name and nationality in one go.
- All it needs is a lick of paint and a bit of work on the kitchen.
- What would it cost for a lick of paint, some artificial flowers and some air fresheners?
Synonyms
dab, bit, drop, dash, spot, touch, hint, dribble, splash, sprinkle, trickle;
little
informal smidgen, tad
2.1 [in singular, usually with negative] US An extremely small amount of something abstract: there’s not a lick of suspense in the entire plot...
- The most inventive shorts are in the animation category, particularly two painstakingly made stop-motion movies with not a lick of dialogue.
- I will select a swaybacked old nag without a lick of spirit.
- Sadly, none of them are worth a lick of spite.
3 informal A short phrase or solo in jazz or popular music: cool guitar licks...
- Each song combines similar elements - hip hop loops, cheesy retro keyboards, sampled jazz licks, and various other found sounds.
- Several tracks also include chilled vocals, as well as some fiery jazz licks from the clarinetist/sax player.
- The sophomore set is a slightly more grown-up and all round musical affair that at times meanders from jazz licks through ambient auras, but is ultimately built on a foundation of '80s electronica.
4 informal A smart blow: his mother gave him several licks for daring to blaspheme...
- Michael got a few licks in while he could.
- Nearly as important as glass and magnification is a device's ability to take a few licks.
- Many believed that you should have taken your licks and accepted the situation.
Phrases
at a lick
a lick and a promise
lick someone's boots (or vulgar slang arse)
lick someone/thing into shape
lick one's lips (or chops)
lick one's wounds
not be able to do something a lick
Derivatives
licker [usually in combination]
- He's accused the Coalition of being lickers and suck-holes.
- The click/snap is actually a replacement for the lick; you will find that most of these dogs aren't lickers.
- As it turned out, my licker refused to use the whipped cream, as he objected to the taste (and quite right too - it was that disgusting synthetic stuff that comes out of a can).
Origin
Old English liccian, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch likken and German lecken, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek leikhein and Latin lingere.
language from Middle English:
The word language is from Old French langage, based on Latin lingua ‘tongue’, which is also found in linguist (late 16th century), and goes back to an Indo-European root shared with lick (Old English). The expression to lick someone into shape comes from the old tradition that bear cubs were born a formless mass, and had literally to be licked into shape by their mothers. Lingo (mid 17th century) is probably from the Portuguese form of lingua.