/ lɪk; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
1.
to move your tongue over the surface of sth in order to eat it, make it wet or clean it :
[ vn ]
He licked his fingers.
I'm tired of licking envelopes.
The cat sat licking its paws.
[ vn - adj ]
She licked the spoon clean.
2.
[ vn + adv. / prep. ] to eat or drink sth by licking it :
The cat licked up the milk.
She licked the honey off the spoon.
3.
( of flames ) to touch sth lightly :
[ vn ]
Flames were soon licking the curtains.
[ v ]
The flames were now licking at their feet.
4.
[ vn ] ( informal ) to easily defeat sb or deal with sth :
We thought we had them licked .
It was a tricky problem but I think we've licked it.
•
IDIOMS
- lick sb's boots
- lick your wounds
—more at lip , shape noun
■ noun
1.
[ C ] an act of licking sth with the tongue :
Can I have a lick of your ice cream?
2.
[ sing. ] a ~ of paint ( informal ) a small amount of paint, used to make a place look better :
What this room needs is a lick of paint.
3.
[ C ] ( informal ) a short piece of music which is part of a song and is played on a guitar :
a guitar / blues lick
•
IDIOMS
- a lick and a promise
- at a (fair) lick
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English liccian , of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch likken and German lecken , from an Indo-European root shared by Greek leikhein and Latin lingere .