noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act by which something is licked. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   the act of inflicting corporal punishment with repeated blows wordnet
3. 3
   A severe beating. countable, informal, uncountable
4. 4
   an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest wordnet
5. 5
   A great loss or defeat. countable, informal, uncountable

   "Our football team took a licking last night."

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of lick form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms

beatingdefeatappetitebeatingcannibalismcarnivorism

Example

More examples

"The cat is licking the candle stand out of love for the candle."

Related phrases

arse-lickingass-lickingcookie lickingtake a licking

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.