lick

[lik]

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verb (used with object)

to pass the tongue over the surface of, as to moisten, taste, or eat (often followed by up, off, from, etc.): to lick a postage stamp; to lick an ice-cream cone.

to make, or cause to become, by stroking with the tongue: to lick a spoon clean.

(of waves, flames, etc.) to pass or play lightly over: The flame licked the dry timber.

Informal.

to hit or beat, especially as a punishment; thrash; whip.
to overcome or defeat, as in a fight, game, or contest.
to outdo or surpass.

verb (used without object)

to move quickly or lightly.

noun

a stroke of the tongue over something.

as much as can be taken up by one stroke of the tongue.

salt lick.

Informal.

a blow.
a brief, brisk burst of activity or energy.
a quick pace or clip; speed.
a small amount: I haven't done a lick of work all week.

Usually licks. a critical or complaining remark.

Usually licks. Jazz Slang. a musical phrase, as by a soloist in improvising.

Verb Phrases

lick up, to lap up; devour greedily.

Origin of lick

before 1000; Middle English; Old English liccian, cognate with Old Saxon liccōn, Old High German leckōn; akin to Go bilaigon, Latin lingere, Greek leíchein to lick (up)

SYNONYMS FOR lick

9a. thwack, thump, rap, slap, cuff, buffet.

Related formslick·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for licker

No, he didn't feel the triumphant wisdom of the licker traffic.
Samantha at the World's Fair|Marietta Holley
I'm not sayin' the world wouldn't be better off if there wasn't any licker to drink.
West Wind Drift|George Barr McCutcheon
There'll be licker down there, an' it'll sure be quickfire licker at that.
Rimrock Trail|J. Allan Dunn
You don't mean to say that you have had that licker for several days?
Up Terrapin River|Opie P. Read

It's a good idee to occasionally instruct the stummick that it mustn't depend excloosively on licker for its sustainance.
The Complete Works of Artemus Ward|Charles Farrar Browne (AKA Artemus Ward)

British Dictionary definitions for licker

lick

verb

(tr) to pass the tongue over, esp in order to taste or consume

to flicker or move lightly over or round (something)the flames licked around the door

(tr) informal

to defeat or vanquish
to flog or thrash
to be or do much better than

lick into shape to put into a satisfactory condition: from the former belief that bear cubs were born formless and had to be licked into shape by their mother

lick one's lips to anticipate or recall something with glee or relish

lick one's wounds to retire after a defeat or setback in order to husband one's resources

lick the boots of See boot 1 (def. 14)

noun

an instance of passing the tongue over something

a small amounta lick of paint

Also called: salt lick a block of compressed salt or chemical matter provided for domestic animals to lick for medicinal and nutritional purposes

a place to which animals go to lick exposed natural deposits of salt

informal a hit; blow

slang a short musical phrase, usually on one instrument

informal speed; rate of movementhe was going at quite a lick when he hit it

a lick and a promise something hastily done, esp a hurried wash

Derived Formslicker, noun

Word Origin for lick

Old English liccian; related to Old High German leckon, Latin lingere, Greek leikhein

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for licker

lick

v.2

"to beat," 1535, perhaps from figurative use of lick (v.1) in the Coverdale bible that year in sense of "defeat, annihilate" (an enemy's forces) in Num. xxii:4:

Now shal this heape licke up all that is about vs, euen as an oxe licketh vp the grasse in the field.

But to lick (of) the whip "taste punishment" is attested from mid-15c.

lick

v.1

Old English liccian "to pass the tongue over the surface, lap, lick up," from Proto-Germanic *likkon (cf. Old Saxon likkon, Dutch likken, Old High German lecchon, German lecken, Gothic bi-laigon), from PIE imitative base *leigh- (cf. Sanskrit ledhi "he licks," Armenian lizum "I lick," Greek leikhein "to lick," Latin lingere "to lick," Old Irish ligim "I lick," Welsh llwy "spoon"). French lécher is a Germanic loan word.

To lick (someone or something) into shape (1610s) is in reference to the supposed ways of bears:

Beres ben brought forthe al fowle and transformyd and after that by lyckyng of the fader and the moder they ben brought in to theyr kyndely shap. ["The Pylgremage of the Sowle," 1413]

lick

"an act of licking," c.1600, from lick (v.1). Meaning "small portion" is 1814, originally Scottish; hence U.S. colloquial sense. Sense of "place where an animal goes to lick salt" is from 1747. The jazz music sense of "short figure or solo" is by 1922.

lick

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

noun

Verb Phrases

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Origin of lick

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verb

noun

Word Origin for lick

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