| / English Dictionary |
LICKING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of inflicting corporal punishment with repeated blows
Synonyms:
beating; drubbing; lacing; licking; thrashing; trouncing; whacking
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("licking" is a kind of...):
corporal punishment (the infliction of physical injury on someone convicted of committing a crime)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "licking"):
flagellation; flogging; lashing; tanning; whipping (beating with a whip or strap or rope as a form of punishment)
flagellation (beating as a source of erotic or religious stimulation)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest
Example:
they suffered a convincing licking
Synonyms:
defeat; licking
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("licking" is a kind of...):
conclusion; ending; finish (event whose occurrence ends something)
failure (an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "licking"):
heartbreaker (a narrow defeat or a defeat at the last minute)
lurch (a decisive defeat in a game (especially in cribbage))
rout (an overwhelming defeat)
shutout; skunk (a defeat in a game where one side fails to score)
debacle; drubbing; slaughter; thrashing; trouncing; walloping; whipping (a sound defeat)
waterloo (a final crushing defeat)
whitewash (a defeat in which the losing person or team fails to score)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb lick
Context examples:
Weedon Scott reading the letter down in Circle City, came upon the following: That dam wolf won't work. Won't eat. Aint got no spunk left. All the dogs is licking him.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
He was lying on his belly on the floor licking up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Buck did not comprehend that silent intentness, nor the eager way with which they were licking their chops.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Once, glancing back, he saw the wolf licking hungrily his bleeding trail, and he saw sharply what his own end might be—unless—unless he could get the wolf.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
John Thornton was eating dinner when Buck dashed into camp and sprang upon him in a frenzy of affection, overturning him, scrambling upon him, licking his face, biting his hand—playing the general tom-fool, as John Thornton characterized it, the while he shook Buck back and forth and cursed him lovingly.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
He sprang up on his hind legs, resting his fore paws on her hip and at the same time licking Skiff Miller's hand.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
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