Link Centre Dictionary

lick

US/lɪk/ fairly common informal slang
verb (4) noun (3)

verb

1.

beat thoroughly in a competition or fight

  • “We licked the other team on Sunday!”
Synonyms
2.

pass the tongue over

  • “the dog licked her hand”
Synonyms
3.

find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of

  • “did you solve the problem?”
  • “Work out your problems with the boss”
  • “this unpleasant situation isn”
  • “;”
  • “;”
  • “;”
Synonyms
4.

take up with the tongue

  • “The cat lapped up the milk”
  • “the cub licked the milk from its mother”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a salt deposit that animals regularly lick

Synonyms
2.

touching with the tongue

  • “the dog”
Synonyms
3.

(boxing) a blow with the fist

  • “I gave him a clout on his nose”
Synonyms

Origin

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. Cognates 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, “t...

Phrases

  • a lick and a promise
  • a lick of
  • big lick
  • cow lick
  • devious lick
  • Elk Lick
  • finger-lickin' good
  • French Lick
  • good lick
  • lick clean
  • lick into shape
  • lick job

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Related verbs

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.