licorice
[lik-er-ish, lik-rish, lik-uh-ris]
- a Eurasian plant, Glycyrrhiza glabra, of the legume family.
- the sweet-tasting, dried root of this plant or an extract made from it, used in medicine, confectionery, etc.
- a candy flavored with licorice root.
- any of various related or similar plants.
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Also liquorice.
Origin of licorice
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for licorice
Contemporary Examples
Hypoglycemia or Low Blood Sugar - Make a tea from hot water and licorice powder which you drink twice daily.
Use These 15 Home Remedies Based On Ayurveda To Cure Menstrual Cramps, Hangovers, and IndigestionAri Meisel
January 21, 2014
Two bottles of stout supplied the necessary lubrication, and there was frequent recourse to a box of licorice pastilles.
Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice really like licorice.
Historical Examples
Or a "pay back sperrit" as Licorice Stick might have called him.
Pee-wee HarrisPercy Keese Fitzhugh
No "sperrit" of Licorice Stick's acquaintance had ever cast a spell like this.
Pee-wee HarrisPercy Keese Fitzhugh
"I done gone make no fools of you, no how:" Licorice Stick exclaimed.
Pee-wee HarrisPercy Keese Fitzhugh
Licorice Stick's encounters with "sperrits" had never brought him a cent.
Pee-wee HarrisPercy Keese Fitzhugh
What had she heard that, if it were known, would cost Abraham and Licorice their lives?
Earl Hubert's DaughterEmily Sarah Holt
licorice
- the usual US and Canadian spelling of liquorice
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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 licorice
n.
also liquorice, c.1200, from Anglo-French lycoryc, Old French licorece (also recolice), from Late Latin liquiritia, alteration of Latin glychyrrhiza, from Greek glykyrrhiza, literally "sweet root," from glykys "sweet" (see glucose) + rhiza "root" (see radish); form influenced in Latin by liquere "become fluid," because of the method of extracting the sweet stuff from the root. French réglisse, Italian regolizia are the same word, with metathesis of -l- and -r-.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper