lick
Noun plurallicks
Plurallicks
- 1To pass the tongue over the surface of something.
The cat will lick its fur for hours to stay clean.
He licked the envelope before sealing it shut.
Note
The literal core of the word goes back through Old English liccian to an Indo-European root that already meant "to lick", with relatives in Dutch likken and German lecken. The verb takes a direct object, the surface the tongue crosses: fur, an envelope, lips. When the tongue gathers something up rather than passing over it, the word shifts toward the "lap up" meaning.
- 2A single stroke or movement of the tongue across a surface.
A single lick of the ice cream cone left a streak of chocolate on her nose.
The dog's friendly lick startled the toddler.
- 3To beat someone thoroughly, especially in a fight or contest.
The champion licked every challenger who stepped into the ring.
Give me a fair chance and I'll lick him easily.
Similarbeat, defeat, trounce, thrash, whip
Note
The boast form of the same dated slang. "My dad can lick your dad" is its classic shape, a challenge about who would win. It sits beside the "thrash" meaning but cares about the outcome rather than the blows. Because it sounds old-fashioned and a little childish, it suits dialogue, nostalgia or deliberate swagger better than neutral prose.
- 4A short musical phrase or motif, especially one played on a guitar or other lead instrument.
She worked out a catchy lick on her guitar during practice.
The solo was stitched together from a few classic blues licks.
Note
A musician's unit of vocabulary: the short phrase a player knows by hand and drops into a solo. It is usually counted and labeled by style, as in blues licks or a few classic licks, and players speak of learning or playing them. Keep the word for a brief instrumental line; it does not describe a whole song or its chords.
- 5A stroke or blow struck against someone or something.
The boxer landed a solid lick to his opponent's jaw.
She took a few licks at the piñata before it finally broke.
Similarblow, hit, punch, whack, swing
Note
A blow of the working kind as much as the fighting kind: you hit a wedge a good lick with a sledgehammer. In 1891 Cecil Roberts chops a woodpile "in big licks." The Bermuda Sun in 2013 asks "Who gave you your worst licks?", meaning punishments taken. The plural with give or get is a common shape, and the noun echoes the verb of beating.
- 6A tiny amount of something; the least bit.
She didn't have a lick of patience left by noon.
There wasn't a lick of evidence to support the accusation.
Similarbit, dash, drop, hint, dab
Note
Almost always heard in the negative: not a lick of sense, didn't do a lick of work, not getting a lick of service. The frame is fixed, a lick of plus an uncountable noun. Positive uses sound odd, so "she has a lick of sense" is best avoided. It works like a whit or a bit, but is colloquial and emphatic.
- 7An attempt or try at doing something.
Give the problem a lick before you ask anyone for help.
He had a lick at writing poetry back in college.
Similartry, go (entry), shot, stab, crack
Note
The usual frame is take a lick at something. In Stutterin' Boy (1984), Mel Tillis uses it of another singer recording his song: "Waylon Jennings took a lick at it on an album." It is a casual way to say someone gave a piece of work their own try. The tone is offhand and modest, suggesting an attempt rather than a triumph.
- 8
- 9A place where animals gather to lick salt or other minerals from the ground.
A natural lick drew elk from miles around.
The ranchers set out a salt lick in the pasture for the cattle.
- 10The amount of a substance that can be taken up with a single stroke of the tongue.
A single lick of salt left a sharp taste on her tongue.
Each lick of the ice pop melted almost instantly in the heat.
Similartaste
- 11To beat someone soundly with repeated blows.
He swore he would lick any man who insulted his sister.
The sergeant licked the recruits until they finally obeyed.
Similarthrash, beat, wallop, whip, pummel
Note
A schoolyard word for a thrashing, now dated. Mark Twain still uses it in 1876: "Never been licked in school! What's a licking!" The noun licking travels with it. How a tongue verb came to mean beating is unexplained, and no other Germanic language made the same leap. Today it gives dialogue or narration period color rather than plain description.
- 12To defeat or get the better of an opponent, problem, or difficulty.
No rival could lick them on their home field.
He licked the hardest puzzle in the book within minutes.
Similarbeat, defeat, overcome, conquer, crack
Note
Here the opponent is a problem rather than a person: "I think I can lick this." Ren Grevatt, writing in 1957, has stereo's "many problems still to be licked". That passive use with problem or difficulty is a natural home for the sense. Like the fighting senses, it now sounds dated and colloquial, so it lends a mid-century, can-do tone.
- 13A quick and careless application of something, as if made with a single stroke of the tongue.
The dresser had received nothing more than a lick of varnish years ago.
A lick of polish brought back some shine to the worn table.
Similardab, coat, touch, splash, smear
Note
A lick of paint is the set phrase, and it carries a shrug: the job was quick and thin. Thomas Gray already mocks a man who "smugg'd up his face / With a lick of court white wash" in "The Candidate" (1774), so the dismissive edge is old. Pair it with of and a coating noun, such as paint, varnish or whitewash, to suggest surface rather than substance.
- 14A rate of speed, always paired with a describing word such as 'good' or 'fair.'
The mail coach came up the road at a tremendous lick.
We made the journey at a good lick and arrived before dark.
Similarpace, clip, rate, speed
Note
Speed with a built-in adjective: the noun never stands bare. It is a good lick or a fair lick, and nearly always comes after at. In John Denison Vose's Fresh Leaves from the Diary of a Broadway Dandy (1852), a dandy "rushed over the ground at a big lick," so the frame is old. It is informal and slightly jaunty, at home in conversation and travel writing.
- 15To wash or move against a surface in gentle, repeated motions, as waves or flames do.
Like a soft, repeated brushing against a surface, the way a curtain stirs against a wall in a breeze.
Gentle waves lick the hull of the anchored boat.
The tide licked at the base of the cliff as evening fell.
Similarlap, wash, brush, caress
Note
Flames and water borrow the tongue here, and the image is often explicit. H. G. Wells, in The Time Machine (1895), calls fire "red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood." The verb often takes a particle, as in lick at and lick up. It suits movement that is light, repeated and faintly hungry, whether waves against a hull or fire climbing kindling.
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- 17A chance to make money fast, usually by illegal means such as a robbery or drug deal; also the victim of such a crime.
The crew pulled off one last lick before they scattered.
She hit a few licks that month just to cover rent.
Similarscore, job, heist, hustle
Note
A separate word from the tongue senses entirely. It is a back-formation from the phrase hit a lick, traced ultimately to liquor. Its home is crime talk in song lyrics, where Lil Darkie and Kai Bandz use it for a robbery or its target. Hit a lick and hit licks are the frames, and outside them listeners may hear only the innocent word.
- 18
- 19To perform oral sex on a woman, using the mouth and tongue on her genitals.
He spent the morning licking her until she trembled.
She guided his head lower so he could lick her.
Note
Taboo territory. This vulgar slang use builds directly on the literal tongue meaning and belongs only in intimate talk or frank writing. In mixed or professional company it will shock. Because the everyday verb is so common, careful writers watch for phrasing that a listener could turn suggestive.
- 20An instance of oral sex performed on a woman.
He treated her to a leisurely lick that left her breathless.
A quick lick was all they had time for that morning.
Note
The count-noun counterpart of the sexual verb, turning up in casual propositions like "You up for a lick tonight?" It belongs to intimate slang. Context carries everything, since an ordinary lick is just as often a taste of ice cream, so keep it out of any setting where the double meaning would land badly.
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Practice
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Origins
From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, tracing back through Proto-Germanic to the Proto-Indo-European root *leyǵʰ- ("to lick"). It has relatives in Dutch likken, German lecken, Latin lingō, and Greek leíkhō; how it came to mean "to hit" is unclear and has no parallel in other Germanic languages.
A back-formation from hit a lick, ultimately derived from liquor.