take a licking and keep on ticking

present singular third person takes a licking and keeps on ticking · participle present taking a licking and keeping on ticking · past took a licking and kept on ticking · participle past taken a licking and kept on ticking

1. idiomaticTo be tough; to have endurance; to have the capacity to absorb stress or damage, but still be able to function.

   Insurance allows your business to take a licking and keep on ticking.

   2006, Anthony Mancuso, LLC Or Corporation?: How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business, page 47

   4 more examples

   How am I supposed to knock these other guys off. My wild card is nothing but defensive. I take a licking and keep on ticking. Big whoop.

   2008, George R. R. Martin et al., Inside Straight, page 124

   The persistence-through-change of Romantic ideologemes — the way they've taken a licking and kept on ticking — is explicable by their extension and saturation — their participation — in ongoing formations of capitalism and disciplinarity.

   1997, Ira Livingston, Arrow of Chaos: Romanticism and Postmodernity, section 2.3

   "That," the first said, "was one hardy son of a bitch. Took a licking but went on ticking. I heard he made it all the way down off the mountain before he snuffed it."

   1994, Pinckney Benedict, Dogs of God, page 204

   But the car amazed him. It kept going. And that too struck him as funny. Takes a licking, keeps on ticking.

   1986, David Morrell, The Fraternity of the Stone, page 177