Meaning

noun a salt deposit that animals regularly lick

noun touching with the tongue

noun (boxing) a blow with the fist

originFrom Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”). Sense evolution towards violence unclear; not paralleled in any other Germanic language. See also Saterland Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken; also Old Irish ligid, Latin lingō (“lick”), ligguriō (“to lap, lick up”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0