lick
/lɪk/ verb, noun, proper noun
- verb (transitive) To stroke with the tongue. “The cat licked its fur.”
- verb (transitive) To lap; to take in with the tongue. “She licked the last of the honey off the spoon before washing it.”
- verb (colloquial, dated) To beat with repeated blows.
- verb (colloquial, dated) To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight. “My dad can lick your dad.”
- verb (colloquial, dated) To overcome. “I think I can lick this.”
- verb (vulgar, slang) To perform cunnilingus.
- verb (colloquial) To do anything partially.
- verb (of flame, waves etc.) To lap.
- noun The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue. “The cat gave its fur a lick.”
- noun The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick. “Give me a lick of ice cream.”
- noun A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue. “a lick of paint”
- noun A place where animals lick minerals from the ground. “The birds gathered at the clay lick.”
- noun A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream. “We used to play in the lick.”
- noun (colloquial) A stroke or blow. “Hit that wedge a good lick with the sledgehammer.”
- noun (colloquial, chiefly in the negative) A small amount; a whit. “You don't have a lick of sense.”
- noun (informal) An attempt at something.
- noun An instance or opportunity to earn money fast, usually by illegal means, thus a heist, drug deal etc. or its victim; mostly used in phrasal verbs: hit a lick, hit licks
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
clobber ace atom thought atomy aught bissel continental bit crumb glimpse dab damn dash diddly glint dot spatter drop dusting salt lick lap punch clout poke biff slug cream bat drub
Etymology
From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną (“to lick”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”). Sense evolution towards violence unclear; not paralleled in any other Germanic language.
Cognate with Dutch lekken, likken (“to lick”), German lecken (“to lick”), Vilamovian łaekia, łakia, łȧḱkja (“to lick”), Yiddish לעקן (lekn, “to lick”), French lécher (“to lick”), Friulian lecâ (“to lick”), Italian leccare (“to lick”), Lombard leccà (“to lick”), Norman litchi (“to lick”), Occitan lecar (“to lick”); also Faroese and Icelandic sleikja (“to lick”), Breton leat (“to lick”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic ligh (“to lick”), Welsh llyfu (“to lick”), Latin lingō (“to lick”), Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō, “to lick up”), Latvian làizît (“to lick”), Lithuanian laižyti (“to lick”), Bulgarian ли́жа (líža, “to lick”), Czech lízat (“to lick”), Macedonian лиже (liže, “to lick”), Polish lizać (“to lick”), Russian лиза́ть (lizátʹ, “to lick”), Serbo-Croatian ли́зати, lízati (“to lick”), Slovene lizati (“to lick”), Ukrainian лиза́ти (lyzáty, “to lick”), Armenian լիզել (lizel, “to lick”), Central Kurdish لستن (listin, “to lick”), Northern Kurdish alastin, alêstin, alistin, alîstin (“to lick”), Persian لیسیدن (lēsīdan / lisidan, “to lick”), Sanskrit लिह् (lih), रिह् (rih, “to lick; to eat”).
Back-formation from hit a lick, which see. Ultimately from liquor.
North German surname, from a short/pet form of a name related to Leute (“people”); compare Leopold.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To draw or pass the tongue over; as, a dog licks his master's hand. Addison.
- verb To lap; to take in with the tongue; as, a dog or cat licks milk.
- noun A stroke of the tongue in licking. "A lick at the honey pot." Dryden.
- noun A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue, or of something which acts like a tongue; as, to put on colors with a lick of the brush. Also, a small quantity of any substance so applied. [Colloq.]
Etymology [AS. liccian; akin to OS. likk, D. likken, OHG. lecch, G. lecken, Goth. bi-laig, Russ. lizate, L. lingere, Gr. lih, rih. . Cf. Lecher, Relish.]
Etymology [See Lick, v.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lick”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details