lick

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English[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

Old English liccian, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną (compare East Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken), from Proto-Indo-European *leiǵʰ- (compare Old Irish ligid, Latin lingō (“lick”), ligguriō (“to lap, lick up”), Lithuanian laižyti, Old Church Slavonic лизати (lizati), Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō), Old Armenian լիզեմ (lizem), Persian لیسیدن (lisidan), Sanskrit लेढि (léḍhi), रेढि (réḍhi)).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Yellow River in rural Indiana, USA - example of a lick.

lick (plural licks)

  1. The act of licking.
    The cat gave its fur a lick.
  2. The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick.
    Give me a lick of ice cream.
  3. A place where animals lick minerals from the ground.
    The birds gathered at the clay lick.
  4. A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream.
    We used to play in the lick.
  5. (colloquial) A stroke or blow.
    Hit that wedge a good lick with the sledgehammer.
  6. (colloquial) A bit.
    You don't have a lick of sense.
    I didn't do a lick of work today.
  7. (music) A short motif.
    There are some really good blues licks in this solo.
  8. speed. In this sense it is always qualified by good, or fair or a similar adjective.
    The bus was travelling at a good lick when it swerved and left the road.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

the act of licking
amount obtainable with a single lick
place where animals lick minerals from the ground
small watercourse or ephemeral stream
colloquial: a stroke or blow
colloquial: a bit
music: a short motif

Verb[edit]

lick (third-person singular simple present licks, present participle licking, simple past and past participle licked)

  1. To stroke with the tongue.
    The cat licked its fur.
  2. (colloquial) To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight.
    My dad can lick your dad.
  3. (colloquial) To overcome.
    I think I can lick this.
  4. (vulgar, slang) To perform cunnilingus.
  5. (colloquial) To do anything partially.
  6. (of flame, waves etc.) To lap
    • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter XI
      I don't know if you have ever thought what a rare thing in the absence of man and in a temperate climate, flames must be. The sun's heat is rarely strong enough to burn even when focussed by dewdrops, as is sometimes the case in more tropical districts. Lightning may blast and blacken, but it rarely gives rise to widespread fire. Decaying vegetation may occasionally smoulder with the heat of its fermentation, but this again rarely results in flames. Now, in this decadent age the art of fire-making had been altogether forgotten on the earth. The red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood were an altogether new and strange thing to Weena.

Translations[edit]

to stroke with a tongue
colloquial: to defeat decisively
colloquial: to overcome
vulgar slang: to perform cunnilingus
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from the noun or verb lick
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