1886. Daily Telegraph, 3 March. More frequently the ‘sowker’ wound
up his big lick in an attack of delirium tremens.
Verb. (common).—1. See quot. 1573.
1573. Harman, Caveat, s.v. Lycke, to beate.
1732. Fielding, Mock Doctor, Sc. ii. Suppose I’ve a mind he should
drub, Whose bones are they, sir, he’s to lick?
1733. Fielding, Don Quixote, ii. vii. Stand away, landlord, stand
away—If I don’t lick him!
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, Bk. XV. V. ‘I’ll teach you to
father-in-law me. I’ll lick thy jacket.’
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lick, to beat: also, to wash, or to
paint slightly over. I’ll give you a good lick of the chops; I’ll
give you a good stroke or blow on the face. Jack tumbled into a
cow-turd, and nastied his best clothes, for which his father
stepped up and licked him neatly. I’ll lick you! the dovetail to
which is, If you lick me all over you won’t miss my arse.
1786. Burns, ‘Second Epistle to Davie.’ I’m tauld the Muse ye ha’e
negleckit; An gif it’s sae, ye suld be licket.
b. 1794. Wolcot (‘Peter Pindar’), 305. And oft ... the gentleman
would lick her.
1840. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (The Cenotaph). Chasing him round,
and attempting to lick The ghost of poor Tray with the ghost of a
stick.
1843. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Sam Slick in England, xxii. I would
like to lick him ... round the park ... to improve his wind, and
teach him how to mend his pace.
1846. Thackeray, Jeames’s Diary (in Punch, x. p. 13). It was Mary
Hann who summind the House and put an end to my physty coughs with
Fitz warren. I licked him and bare him no mallis.
1870. Daily News, 25 Nov. ‘Leader.’ ‘We ought to believe,’ says the
Bishop of Carlisle ‘that an Englishman can lick a Frenchman, a
German or any body else.’
1888. Missouri Republican, 2 Feb. I’m a terror from Philadelphia,
and I can lick any man in the world.
1892. Lippincott’s Mag., Oct., p. 500. Till Big-Foot Zekel, who
used to laff At his genteel manners, quit his chaff, An’ give out
the statement, cold an’ chill, He’d lick the duffer as used Hank
ill.
2. (colloquial).—1. To surpass; to vanquish; and (2) to puzzle or
astound. Fr. bouler. [Cf. Creation, Hollow, Shine etc.].
1864. Derby Day, 39. ‘As sure as the sun shines, Askpart ’ll lick
’em; if so be,’ he added significantly, ‘as there ain’t no cross.’
Ibid. 79. ‘Don’t you know Little un?’ ‘They lick me,’ answered the
trainer.
1871. Durham County Advertizer, 10 Nov. ‘By G—, chum, it licks me
how the bottom itself did not tumble clean away from the ship.’
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xxxi. But in his own
line you couldn’t lick him. Ibid. xxiv. It licked me to think it
had been hid away all the time.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, 108. ‘Lets hope you’ll draw the
winner, Ike,’ said Kingdon. ‘If you do, and Caloola gets licked,
you can pull us through,’ he laughed.
3. (old).—1. To sleek; (2) to tittivate (q.v.); (3) to smooth over,
with varnish, rouge, and so forth; to fashion.
1594. Nashe, Have With You, etc. [Grosart, iii. 99]. Spending a
whole forenoone euerie daie in spunging and licking himselfe by the
glasse.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Lickt. Pictures new varnished,
Houses new whitened, or Women’s faces with a wash.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lick.
1853. Taylor, Life of Haydon, p. 212. Modern cartoons with few
exceptions are licked (smoothed) and polished intentionally.