salt lick

noun

1. a place to which animals go to lick naturally occurring salt deposits.
2. a block of salt or salt preparation provided, as in a pasture, for cattle, horses, etc.

salt lick

noun

1. a place where wild animals go to lick naturally occurring salt deposits
2. a block of salt or a salt preparation given to domestic or farm animals to lick

Word History and Origins

Origin of salt lick¹

An Americanism dating back to 1735–45

Example Sentences

“They were very gentle and nice people,” says Salt Lick employee Tana Kent.

From The Daily Beast

If the salt was in an accessible place there would have been a salt lick there and goats in plenty.

From Project Gutenberg

On the 1st of April we began to erect the fort of Boonesborough, at a salt lick sixty yards from the river, on the south side.

From Project Gutenberg

On one occasion I was watching a salt lick for deer; I was on a scaffold built up in a tree thirty or forty feet from the ground.

From Project Gutenberg

The pitfall is now prohibited, so also is the Assam plan of inclosing a herd in a salt lick.

From Project Gutenberg

It stood near a path, much frequented by elephants, leading to a salt lick in the hills a few hundred yards away.

From Project Gutenberg