- present participle of lick.
licking
Americannoun
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lickings
plural
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Informal.
-
a beating or thrashing.
-
a reversal or disappointment; defeat or setback.
-
-
the act of a person or thing that licks.
noun
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a beating
-
a defeat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of licking
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at lick, -ing 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Footage shows waves licking the wreckage as multiple responders attempted to free the canine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
And, notably, they eat Cane’s, whether it’s buying entire orders of just Texas toast or dunking their entire hand into a fountain cup of Cane’s Sauce and licking it off their fingers.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
The world number one has been left licking her wounds after a chastening 3-6 7-5 6-0 defeat by Russia's Diana Shnaider in the French Open quarter-finals.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
He sips small amounts of ice water because drinking too much is akin to licking one’s lips, causing them to chap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
It’s licking my knees now, only inches from the boat’s rail, my mission just about complete.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
After all the investments they had made into her business, she said they were left with the "lickings of a dog" and felt it was "a kick in the teeth".
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2024
Two years later, at the polls, it took one of the most surprising lickings in U.S. political history.
From Time Magazine Archive
In one tournament after another, Tony took embarrassing lickings.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tammany took one of the bad lickings it takes once in a generation, then cleaned house after a fashion and picked a new boss, young District Leader James J. Dooling.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nor I—they gave me more lickings than Latin at the grammar school down to Alvord, 'cause I would go bird's-nesting and fishing sooner than study my hic, haec, hoc.
From Days of the Discoverers by Florence Choate
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
