Lick
/lɪk/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo stroke with the tongue.
verbTo lap; to take in with the tongue.
Sentence Examples
I had a lick at the jam.
If you can't lick 'em, join 'em.
Remove the beaters from the mixer before you lick them.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hungry dog tried to ____ the last bit of peanut butter from the jar.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The friendly puppy gave her a quick ____ on the hand before running off to play with its favorite ball.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”). Sense evolution towards violence unclear; not paralleled in any other Germanic language. See also Saterland Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken; also Old Irish ligid, Latin lingō (“lick”), ligguriō (“to lap, lick up”), Lithuanian laižyti, Old Church Slavonic лизати (lizati), Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō), Old Armenian լիզեմ (lizem), Persian لیسیدن (lisidan), Sanskrit लेढि (léḍhi), रेढि (réḍhi).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""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:
"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:
"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:
"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:
"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:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hungry dog tried to ____ the last bit of peanut butter from the jar.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The friendly puppy gave her a quick ____ on the hand before running off to play with its favorite ball.