Headway Word of the Week
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lick
To lick means to use your tongue to taste something or make it wet.
- Simon licked his ice cream.
- Paula licked the back of the postage stamp.
Lick can also be used as a noun.
- I'll just have a lick of your ice cream.
Check out what you can lick
You can
- lick your fingers,
- lick a spoon or a bowl clean
- lick a lollipop.
Cats can lick their fur.
Check out phrasal verbs
- lick sth off
The baby licked the jam off the spoon. - lick out
The children licked out the bowl. - lick up
The cat licked up the milk.
Check out expressions
- If you lick someone's boots, you try too hard to please them.
He's always licking the boss's boots. I think he wants promotion.
- If you lick your wounds, you go away and reflect on a defeat
or failure.
Don't talk to the manager. He's still licking his wounds after failing to get that contract. - If you lick your lips, you feel excited about something that's going
to happen.
He was licking his lips at the idea of a business trip to Thailand. - If you lick people into shape, you train them or discipline them
so that they are presentable.
The sergeant licked the new soldiers into shape. - If you have a problem licked, you have solved it.
Don't worry about the computer problem. I'll soon have it licked.
Check out related words
- taste
- suck
- moisten
⇒ Learn more words in the Word of the Week archive