What is "lick"

Lick \Lick\, v. t. [Cf. OSw. l["a]gga to place, strike, prick.] To strike with repeated blows for punishment; to flog; to whip or conquer, as in a pugilistic encounter. [Colloq. or Low]
--Carlyle.
--Thackeray.

Lick \Lick\, n. A slap; a quick stroke. [Colloq.] ``A lick across the face.''
--Dryden.

Lick \Lick\, n. [See Lick, v.]

1. A stroke of the tongue in licking. ``A lick at the honey pot.''
   --Dryden.

2. A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue, or of something which acts like a tongue; as, to put on colors with a lick of the brush. Also, a small quantity of any substance so applied.

   A lick of court whitewash.
   --Gray.

3. A place where salt is found on the surface of the earth, to which wild animals resort to lick it up; -- often, but not always, near salt springs. Called also salt lick.

Lick \Lick\ (l[i^]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Licked (l[i^]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Licking.] [AS. liccian; akin to OS. likk[=o]n, D. likken, OHG. lecch[=o]n, G. lecken, Goth. bi-laig[=o]n, Russ. lizate, L. lingere, Gr. lei`chein, Skr. lih, rih.

1. To draw or pass the tongue over; as, a dog licks his master's hand.
   --Addison.

2. To lap; to take in with the tongue; as, a dog or cat licks milk.
   --Shak.

   To lick the dust, to be slain; to fall in battle. ``His enemies shall lick the dust.''
   --Ps. lxxii. 9.

   To lick into shape, to give proper form to; -- from a notion that the bear's cubs are born shapeless and subsequently formed by licking.
   --Hudibras.

   To lick the spittle of, to fawn upon.
   --South.

   To lick up, to take all of by licking; to devour; to consume entirely.
   --Shak.
   --Num. xxii. 4.

"an act of licking," c.1600, from lick (v.1). Meaning "small portion" is 1814, originally Scottish; hence U.S. colloquial sense. Sense of "place where an animal goes to lick salt" is from 1747. The jazz music sense of "short figure or solo" is by 1922.

Old English liccian "to pass the tongue over the surface, lap, lick up," from Proto-Germanic *likkon (cognates: Old Saxon likkon, Dutch likken, Old High German lecchon, German lecken, Gothic bi-laigon), from PIE imitative base *leigh- (cognates: Sanskrit ledhi "he licks," Armenian lizum "I lick," Greek leikhein "to lick," Latin lingere "to lick," Old Irish ligim "I lick," Welsh llwy "spoon"). French lécher is a Germanic loan word.\n

\nTo lick (someone or something) into shape (1610s) is in reference to the supposed ways of bears:Beres ben brought forthe al fowle and transformyd and after that by lyckyng of the fader and the moder they ben brought in to theyr kyndely shap. ["The Pylgremage of the Sowle," 1413]

"to beat," 1535, perhaps from figurative use of lick (v.1) in the Coverdale bible that year in sense of "defeat, annihilate" (an enemy's forces) in Num. xxii:4:Now shal this heape licke up all that is about vs, euen as an oxe licketh vp the grasse in the field.But to lick (of) the whip "taste punishment" is attested from mid-15c.

n. 1 The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue. 2 The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick. 3 A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue, or of something which acts like a tongue. 4 A place where animals lick minerals from the ground. 5 A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream. 6 (context colloquial English) A stroke or blow. 7 (context colloquial English) A bit. 8 (context music English) A short motif. 9 speed. In this sense it is always qualified by '''good''', or '''fair''' or a similar adjective. vb. 1 To stroke with the tongue. 2 (context colloquial English) To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight. 3 (context colloquial English) To overcome. 4 (context vulgar slang English) To perform cunnilingus. 5 (context colloquial English) To do anything partially. 6 (context of flame, waves etc. English) To lap 7 To lap; to take in with the tongue.

1. n. a salt deposit that animals regularly lick [syn: salt lick]

2. touching with the tongue; "the dog's laps were warm and wet" [syn: lap]

3. (boxing) a blow with the fist; "I gave him a clout on his nose" [syn: punch, clout, poke, biff]

4. v. beat thoroughly in a competition or fight; "We licked the other team on Sunday!" [syn: bat, clobber, drub, thrash]

5. pass the tongue over; "the dog licked her hand" [syn: lap]

6. 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't going to work itself out"; "did you get it?"; "Did you get my meaning?"; "He could not work the math problem" [syn: solve, work out, figure out, puzzle out, work]

7. take up with the tongue; "The cat lapped up the milk"; "the cub licked the milk from its mother's breast" [syn: lap, lap up]

Lick may refer to:

• Licking, passing the tongue over a surface
• Lick (stream), a small or ephemeral stream
• Lick (music), a short phrase, or series of notes, often improvised by a musician
• Lick (album), by The Lemonheads
• "Lick" (song), by Joi
• Lick (band), an American band, fl. 1990s
• Salt lick, a salt deposit that animals regularly lick
• Lick's Homeburgers, a Canadian restaurant chain

In things named after James Lick (see people, below):

• Lick (crater), a crater on the Moon
• 1951 Lick, an asteroid
• Lick Observatory, an astronomical observatory in California, United States

Lick was a band on Chicago's Invisible Records in the 1990s. Members have played with Pigface, The Final Cut, Project Elf, Sister Machine Gun and more.

Lick is the third album by The Lemonheads and the last to feature founding member Ben Deily. It was released in 1989 and was the group's last album before signing to major label Atlantic. A typo on the album itself erroneously states its release date as 1988. As with their first two albums, it was re-released as a CD in 1992, with two bonus tracks.

A lick is a small watercourse or an ephemeral stream. It ranks hydrologically between a rill, shown left, and a stream, shown right.

Lick is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Dennis Lick (born 1954), American professional football lineman 1976–1981
• James Lick (1796–1876), American carpenter, land baron, and patron of the sciences

Lick is a lunar crater that has been flooded with basaltic lava. The north rim is attached to the smaller, bowl-shaped crater Greaves. Lick lies on the southwest edge of Mare Crisium. Its rim is broken at the north and south ends, and the southwest rim is attached to the crater remnant Lick A. There is a small, flooded crater within the southern part of Lick's inner floor, and several tiny craters mark the interior surface. A small, unnamed crater at the east rim has a bright ray system.

This crater was named in memory of James Lick, a Californian philanthropist.

In popular music genres such as rock or jazz music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines and accompaniment. Licks in rock and roll are often used through a formula, and variations technique in which variants of simple, stock ideas are blended and developed during the solo.

In a jazz band, a lick may be performed during an improvised solo, either during an accompanied solo chorus or during an unaccompanied solo break. Jazz licks are usually original short phrases which can be altered so that they can be used over a song's changing harmonic progressions.

"Lick" is a song by American funk/ soul singer Joi, It was written by Joi Gilliam, Sleepy Brown, Rico Wade, Brandon Bennett, Raymon Ameer Murrey and produced by Joi for her third studio album Star Kitty's Revenge and later appeared in the film xXx and its soundtrack. Becoming an instant cult favorite courtesy of the film, this remains Gilliam's most successful single to date. A music video was never shot due to Gilliam parting ways with the music label and joining then fellow Lucy Pearl band mate Raphael Saadiq's Pookie Entertainment label at the time of its success. The song would later be sampled in rapper Gucci Mane's 2007 hit single " Freaky Gurl".