lich

or lych

[lich]

noun British Obsolete.

the body; the trunk.
a dead body; corpse.

Origin of lich

before 900; Middle English liche body (alive or dead), Old English līc; cognate with Dutch lijk, German Leiche, Old Norse līk, Gothic leik. See like¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lich

Historical Examples of lich

Lichen, lī′ken, lich′en, n. one of an order of cellular flowerless plants: an eruption on the skin.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)
Various

Word Origin and History for lich

also litch, lych, "body, corpse," southern England dialectal survival of Old English lic "body, dead body, corpse," cognate with Old Frisian lik, Dutch lijk, Old High German lih, German leiche "dead body," Old Norse lik, Danish lig, Gothic leik, from Proto-Germanic *likow. Cf. litch-gate "roofed gate to a churchyard under which a bier is placed to await the coming of the clergyman."