lick

Meanings

Noun

• The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue.
• The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick.
• A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue.
• A place where animals lick minerals from the ground.
• A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream.
• A stroke or blow.
• A small amount; a whit.
• An attempt at something.
• A short motif.
• A rate of speed.
• An act of cunnilingus.

Verb

• To stroke with the tongue.
• To lap; to take in with the tongue.
• To beat with repeated blows.
• To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight.
• To overcome.
• To perform cunnilingus.
• To do anything partially.
• To lap.

Origin

• From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną (compare Saterland Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (compare Old Irish ligid, Latin lingō ("lick"), ligguriō, Lithuanian laižyti, Old Church Slavonic лизати, Ancient Greek λείχω, Old Armenian լիզեմ, Persian لیسیدن, Sanskrit लेढि, रेढि).