Wiktionary

lick

See also: Lick

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”).

See also Saterland Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken; also 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

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Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To stroke with the tongue.
    The cat licked its fur.
  2. (transitive) To lap; to take in with the tongue.
    She licked the last of the honey off the spoon before washing it.
    Jim closed his eyes and licked his vanilla ice cream cone.
  3. (colloquial) To beat with repeated blows.
    • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XX, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 163:
      "What a curious kind of a fool a girl is! Never been licked in school! Shucks! What's a licking! That's just like a girl -- they're so thin-skinned and chicken-hearted. […] "
  4. (colloquial) To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight.
    My dad can lick your dad.
  5. (colloquial) To overcome.
    I think I can lick this.
    • 1957 December 30, Ren Grevatt, “Concensus Tabs Stereo Disk Still in Research Stage: Diskery and Phono Toppers Sound Tempering Notes of Caution”, in Billboard, page 11:
      This week, diskery and phono manufacturer spokesmen sounded tempering notes of caution as they discussed the many problems still to be licked in developing truly compatible stereo with fidelity standards equal to those now available in monaural disks.
  6. (vulgar, slang) To perform cunnilingus.
  7. (colloquial) To do anything partially.
  8. (of flame, waves etc.) To lap.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

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lick (plural licks)

 
Yellow River in rural Indiana, USA – an example of a lick.
  1. The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue.
    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 quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue.
    a lick of paint
    to put on colours with a lick of the brush
    • 1774, Thomas Gray, “The Candidate”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[1], Strawberry Hill Press:
      When ſly Jemmy Twitcher had ſmugg'd up his face / With a lick of court white waſh,
  4. A place where animals lick minerals from the ground.
    The birds gathered at the clay lick.
  5. A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream.
    We used to play in the lick.
  6. (colloquial) A stroke or blow.
    Hit that wedge a good lick with the sledgehammer.
    • 1891, Cecil Roberts, Adrift in America: Or, Work and Adventure in the States, page 148:
      I went in big licks, and, although it was a good-sized pile, I chopped it all up before he got back at night.
    • 2013 April 12, “Exclusive: Meet Derpuntae - Bermuda's first meme”, in The Bermuda Sun‎[2], archived from the original on 2022-12-12:
      Who gave you your worst licks and why?
  7. (colloquial, chiefly in the negative) A small amount; a whit.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum
    You don't have a lick of sense.
    I didn't do a lick of work today.
    • 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1):
      Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Why don't I call Jean-Michel at Il Portofino? We'll get a table outside? Ooh, I'm not getting a lick of service. Babe, can I hop on your landline?
  8. (informal) An attempt at something.
    • 1984, Mel Tillis, Walter Wager, Stutterin' Boy, page 170:
      Well, my album did well, but "Ruby" was a timely song and that wasn't the time for it to step out. […] Then Waylon Jennings took a lick at it on an album, and my old buddy Roger Miller covered it, too, in his album. And although they're outstanding artists, nothing much happened with the song.
  9. (music) A short motif.
    There are some really good blues licks in this solo.
  10. (informal) A rate of speed. (Always qualified by good, fair, or a similar adjective.)
    The bus was travelling at a good lick when it swerved and left the road.
    • 1852, John Denison Vose, Fresh Leaves from the Diary of a Broadway Dandy, page 109:
      Dandy Marx, a perfect gentleman in the true sense of the word, now drives forth under single harness ; whereas “once upon a time,” he rushed over the ground at a “big lick,” reigning his four beautiful roans, and continually kicking up an extra excitement among the “fashionables.”
  11. (slang) An act of cunnilingus.
    You up for a lick tonight?
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Back-formation from hit a lick, which see. Ultimately from liquor.

Noun

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lick (plural licks)

  2. 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
    • 2018 July 27, “Strip Talk”, Marty Mula (lyrics)‎[3], 1:52:
      Bitch, pig, pull out with the stick / everything I hit like a lick / We don’t miss
    • 2019 January 31, Lil Darkie (prod. Wendigo), “rap music” (1:55 from the start):
      You see a lick and you rob him / I see a lick then I stop on the block and I pause him
    • 2020 January 9, “1AM”, in Nasty‎[4], performed by Jaykae and Kida Kudz:
      JAEKAE: Free all my G’s, they got locked for licks. Five minutes of fame and I’m hittin’ for six. Past seven, eight, nine, and you’re in my bits.
    • 2020 April 7, “Did Alotta”, Kai Bandz (lyrics), 1:07:
      Remember on my first lick, got lost in a house / Had to dip, bro, quick, before the dogs came out
    • 2022 February 1, Kruk One (lyrics and music), “Intoxicated” (1:55 from the start):
      Is it really necessary how I live the way I do it
      I live for the lick – you see me breathing, I just proved it

Jamaican Creole

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Etymology 1

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Derived from English lick.

Verb

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lick

  1. To hit, stroke, or blow.
    1969, Nora Dean (lyrics and music), “Barbwire”:
    […] I lick him hard upon his head.
    I hit him hard upon his head.
  2. To lick (with the tongue).

Further reading

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  • F. G. Cassidy, R. B. Le Page (2002) Dictionary of Jamaican English, 2nd edition, The University of the West Indies Press, →ISBN, page 273

Yola

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English liken, from Old English līcian, from Proto-West Germanic *līkēn.

Alternative forms

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Verb

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lick

  1. like
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 9, page 88:
      Wourlok'd an anooree, lick lhuskès o' sheep.
      Tumbled on one-another, like flocks of sheep.
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 5, page 96:
      To his sweethearth, an smack lick a dab of a brough.
      To his sweetheart, and smacked like a slap of a shoe.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn.

Verb

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lick

  1. lick
    • 1867, “SONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 5, page 108:
      Duggès an kauddès coome lick up a rhyme,
      Dogs and cats came to lick up the cream.

References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 54 & 108
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