lick

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To pass the tongue over or along.
• intransitive verb To lap up.
• intransitive verb To lap or flicker at like a tongue.
• intransitive verb To beat or thrash.
• intransitive verb To defeat soundly.
• intransitive verb To deal with effectively; overcome.
• intransitive verb To pass or lap quickly and rapidly.
• noun The act or process of licking.
• noun An amount obtained by licking.
• noun A small quantity; a bit.
• noun A deposit of exposed natural salt that is licked by passing animals.
• noun Slang A sudden hard stroke; a blow.
• noun Slang An attempt; a try.
• noun Informal Speed; pace.
• noun Music A phrase improvised by a soloist, especially on the guitar or banjo.
• idiom (lick and a promise) A superficial effort made without care or enthusiasm.
• idiom (lick into shape) To bring into satisfactory condition or appearance.
• idiom (lick (one's) chops) To anticipate delightedly.
• idiom (lick (one's) wounds) To recuperate after a defeat.
• idiom (lick (someone's) boots) To behave in a servile or obsequious manner toward someone.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To tear along; ride at full gallop.
• noun An aberration of the appetite, with a morbid desire to eat foreign substances having no food value, which attacks nearly all the domestic animals. In the ox it is called pica, in the sheep wool-eating, etc.
• noun A rubbing or drawing of the tongue over something.
• noun A slight smear or coat, as of paint.
• noun A small quantity; as much as can be taken up by the tongue: as, a lick of sugar or of oatmeal.
• noun A place where salt is deposited at salt-springs, and where animals come, or might come, to lick it.
• noun A blow; a stroke; hence, a trial or essay.
• noun plural A beating.
• To pass or draw the tongue over the surface of; rub with the tongue.
• To take into the mouth by lapping with the tongue; lap.
• To strike repeatedly by way of punishment; flog; chastise with blows; beat.
• Hence To “beat” or overcome; gain a victory over; surpass; excel.
• In mech.: To catch and retain (fiber), as the rollers of drawing-frames in a damp atmosphere.
• To lap or scoop up; wipe off or transfer by intermittent contact, as in the device for lubrication called a licker.
• To take up gradually and feed (fiber) into a carding-machine: said of the action of the card called the licker-in.
• To prostrate one's self on the ground in token of utter submission; act abjectly and servilely.
• To gain the victory; be victorious: as, who licked?

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb Colloq. or Low To strike with repeated blows for punishment; to flog; to whip or conquer, as in a pugilistic encounter.
• noun A stroke of the tongue in licking.
• noun colloq. A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue, or of something which acts like a tongue. Also, a small quantity of any substance so applied.
• noun United States A place where salt is found on the surface of the earth, to which wild animals resort to lick it up; -- often, but not always, near salt springs. Called also salt lick.
• noun colloq. A slap; a quick stroke.
• transitive verb To draw or pass the tongue over.
• transitive verb To lap; to take in with the tongue.
• transitive verb to be slain; to fall in battle.
• transitive verb to give proper form to; -- from a notion that the bear's cubs are born shapeless and subsequently formed by licking.
• transitive verb to fawn upon.
• transitive verb to take all of by licking; to devour; to consume entirely.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb To stroke with the tongue.