Library / English Dictionary

LICK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(boxing) a blow with the fist

Example:

I gave him a clout on his nose

Synonyms:

biff; clout; lick; poke; punch; slug

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("lick" is a kind of...):

blow (a powerful stroke with the fist or a weapon)

Domain category:

boxing; fisticuffs; pugilism (fighting with the fists)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lick"):

counter; counterpunch; parry (a return punch (especially by a boxer))

haymaker; knockout punch; KO punch; Sunday punch (a hard punch that renders the opponent unable to continue boxing)

hook (a short swinging punch delivered from the side with the elbow bent)

jab (a quick short straight punch)

rabbit punch (a short chopping blow to the back of the neck)

sucker punch (an unexpected punch)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Touching with the tongue

Example:

the dog's laps were warm and wet

Synonyms:

lap; lick

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("lick" is a kind of...):

touch; touching (the act of putting two things together with no space between them)

Derivation:

lick (pass the tongue over)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A salt deposit that animals regularly lick

Synonyms:

lick; salt lick

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("lick" is a kind of...):

deposit; sediment (matter that has been deposited by some natural process)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of

Example:

He could not work the math problem

Synonyms:

figure out; lick; puzzle out; solve; work; work out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "lick" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

"Lick" entails doing...:

reason (think logically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lick"):

answer; resolve (understand the meaning of)

riddle (explain a riddle)

strike (arrive at after reckoning, deliberating, and weighing)

guess; infer (guess correctly; solve by guessing)

answer (give the correct answer or solution to)

break (find the solution or key to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take up with the tongue

Example:

the cub licked the milk from its mother's breast

Synonyms:

lap; lap up; lick

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "lick" is one way to...):

drink; imbibe (take in liquids)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight

Example:

We licked the other team on Sunday!

Synonyms:

bat; clobber; cream; drub; lick; thrash

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "lick" is one way to...):

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Verb group:

flail; lam; thrash; thresh (give a thrashing to; beat hard)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to lick his opponent

Sense 4

Meaning:

Pass the tongue over

Example:

the dog licked her hand

Synonyms:

lap; lick

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "lick" is one way to...):

stroke (touch lightly and repeatedly, as with brushing motions)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lick"):

tongue (lick or explore with the tongue)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

lick (touching with the tongue)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He comes very slowly back to me, licks my hand, and lifts his dim eyes to my face.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When he was short of sixteen he licked the Cock of the South Downs, and he’s come on a long way since then.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This drunken hound, that he should dare to raise his hand to her, whose boots he was not worthy to lick!

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal within me licking the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little drowsed, promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames, which clung to it and licked it with their forked and destroying tongues.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There is indeed another custom, which I cannot altogether approve of: when the king has a mind to put any of his nobles to death in a gentle indulgent manner, he commands the floor to be strewed with a certain brown powder of a deadly composition, which being licked up, infallibly kills him in twenty-four hours.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Why couldn't Cheese-Face be licked? he often thought; that would put him, Martin, out of his misery.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He trotted slowly up to the stranger and first smelled his hands, then licked them with his tongue.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She went straight to the church, stole to the pot of fat, began to lick at it, and licked the top of the fat off.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)