lick into shape

1. Also, whip into shape. Bring into satisfactory condition or appearance, as in The garden looks neglected, but Dad will soon lick it into shape, or We need at least three more practices before the team is whipped into shape. The expression using lick, which some think alludes to how bears treat their cubs, dates from about 1600. The variant alludes to the forceful use of a whip to accomplish something.

Example Sentences

"Weird birds," soliloquized Mostyn; "but perhaps they'll lick into shape."

From Project Gutenberg

To turn to other matters, I have a couple of half finished O'Ds. which, if you like to print, I shall have time to lick into shape.

From Project Gutenberg

“Rather an awkward cub to lick into shape, my nephew, eh?”

From Project Gutenberg

These boys had been taken from the stews, and haunts of vice about Liverpool, and were as great a set of scamps as any disciplinarian could desire to “lick into shape,” but it is astonishing what a reformation soap and water and the master-at-arms effected in them, in a short time.

From Project Gutenberg

Of the new-comers he has got to lick into shape, Howard is the most promising candidate.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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