lick

present singular third person licks · participle present licking · participle past licked · past licked

1. transitiveTo stroke with the tongue.

   The cat licked its fur.

2. transitiveTo lap; to take in with the tongue.

   Jim closed his eyes and licked his vanilla ice cream cone.

   1 more example

   She licked the last of the honey off the spoon before washing it.

3. colloquialdatedTo beat with repeated blows.

   "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. […]"

   1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XX, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 163

   Synonyms: clobber

4. colloquialdatedTo defeat decisively, particularly in a fight.

   My dad can lick your dad.

5. colloquialdatedTo overcome.

   I think I can lick this.

   1 more example

   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.

   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

6. slangvulgarTo perform cunnilingus.
7. colloquialTo do anything partially.
8. waves etc.To lap.

   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.

   1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter XI, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC

plural licks

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

   2 more examples

   to put on colours with a lick of the brush

   When ſly Jemmy Twitcher had ſmugg'd up his face / With a lick of court white waſh,

   1774, Thomas Gray, “The Candidate”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Strawberry Hill Press

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. colloquialA stroke or blow.

   Hit that wedge a good lick with the sledgehammer.

   2 more examples

   I went in big licks, and, although it was a good-sized pile, I chopped it all up before he got back at night.

   1891, Cecil Roberts, Adrift in America: Or, Work and Adventure in the States, page 148

   Who gave you your worst licks and why?

   2013 April 12, “Exclusive: Meet Derpuntae - Bermuda's first meme”, in The Bermuda Sun, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2022

7. colloquialA small amount; a whit.

   You don't have a lick of sense.

   2 more examples

   I didn't do a lick of work today.

   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?

   2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)

   Synonyms: ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, continental, bit

8. informalAn attempt at something.

   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.

   1984, Mel Tillis, Walter Wager, Stutterin' Boy, page 170

9. entertainmentA short motif.

   There are some really good blues licks in this solo.

10. informalA 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.

    1 more example

    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.”

    1852, John Denison Vose, Fresh Leaves from the Diary of a Broadway Dandy, page 109

11. slangAn act of cunnilingus.

    You up for a lick tonight?

plural licks

1. 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

   Bitch, pig, pull out with the stick / everything I hit like a lick / We don’t miss

   2018 July 27, “Strip Talk”, Marty Mula (lyrics), 1:52

   4 more examples

   You see a lick and you rob him / I see a lick then I stop on the block and I pause him

   2019 January 31, Lil Darkie (prod. Wendigo), “rap music” (1:55 from the start)

   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 January 9, “1AM”, in Nasty, performed by Jaykae and Kida Kudz

   Remember on my first lick, got lost in a house / Had to dip, bro, quick, before the dogs came out

   2020 April 7, “Did Alotta”, Kai Bandz (lyrics), 1:07

   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

   2022 January 2, Kruk One, “Intoxicated” (1:55 from the start)

plural Licks

1. A surname.