Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an effort, an attempt at something.

1740		Cibber Life of Colley Cibber 31: Therefore, right or wrong, a Lick at the Laureat will always be a Sure Bait [...] to catch him little Readers.
1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods II 89: I was squinting a long aim at ’em, hoping I might smash two of ’em at a lick.
1847		J.S. Robb Streaks of Squatter Life 106: He was puttin’ in the biggest kind a licks in the way of courtin’.
1858		‘Joe Bowers’ Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 97: At length I went to minin’, put in my biggest licks.
1875		M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 123: He got down and prayed like a Methodist preacher at his very best licks.
1876		B. Harte Gabriel Conroy II 30: Gabe [...] jest comes along, accidental like, and, dern my skin! but he strikes onto a purty gal and a wife the first lick!
1885		Illus. Police News 10 Oct. 3/4: She habitually talked slang , and made use of such expression as ‘getting left’ [...] and ‘put in his best licks’.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 82: It’ll be a short life and merry one [...] if we go on big licks like this.
1900		W.F. Drannan Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains (1903) 107: I got out like a quarter-horse, putting in my best licks to try to reach a wash-out.
1911		G. Stratton-Porter Harvester 149: Put in your best licks, my boy; perk right up and court her like a house afire.
1947		R. Goffin Horn of Plenty 141: Let’s go, Dipper [...] Give it a solid lick!
1958		Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 347: Says now one more lick fore quittin’ time, / An’ I’ll beat this steam drill down.

2. (Aus./N.Z./US) a (short) sprint; intensified as lick of one’s life.

1843		T. Haliburton Sam Slick in England I 221: Leadin’ off of two hosses [...] takin’ a lick of a half mile on a bye road, right slap a-head.
1868		H.W. Woodruff Trotting Horse of America 84: I shall take very good care that she don’t go that lick any farther.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 Apr. 18/1: Camel broken loose, Corporal, gone for the lick of his life towards Wadi.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 340: I says I’ll go with him for a bit of a stroll. Oh no, he says, not to bother, and goes for the lick of his life.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 38: Most of the boobhead drivers went for the lick of their lives.

3. (US) a rhythm or pace, spec. on the chain gang.

1847		W.T. Porter Quarter Race in Kentucky 104: He went up the opposite bank at the same lick, and disappeared.
1900		Sun (NY) 2 Dec. 31/4: I follered on at m’ bes’ licks, doin’ mebbe ten miles a hour.
1932		(con. 1929) R.E. Burns I Am a Fugitive 160: This working in unison is called ‘Keeping the lick’. [Ibid.] 174: The speed of the lick was usually sixteen shovelfuls a minute.
1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 210: From sunrise to sunset we shovelled dust on the road. A big nigger sets the lick. Everybody had to work in unison.
1965		R.H. Conquest Horses in Kitchen 35: Most of the dancers [...] hurried off home at a dickens of a lick.

4. constr. with the.

5. (later black) a turn, a ‘go’, an attempt; thus one-lick, once only.

1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 7 Jan. 7/4: [A] drummer [was] able to rake in the orders for goods at the race of a cool couple of thousand dollars a lick.
1913		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 114: Who’s got first licks.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 104: Brandy Bottle hits thirteen licks in a row, and the last lick he makes is on a ten.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 90: That ain’t the lick either.
1958		(con. late 19C) D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 15 Feb. 13: [of throws of the dice] Robinson [...] won $4,400 in straight licks .
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 13: At a dollar a lick the square hit Spider four times.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 89: [as 1957].
1981		John ‘Piano ed’ Williams q. in McKee & Chisenhall Beale Black & Blue 136: Sometimes would be some old fellow come by, and you give him a drink, he’d go take a lick or two for you.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 46: Respec’ cuz, for that ironin’ lick.

6. (Und.) a theft.

1933		‘Paul Cain’ ‘One, Two, Three’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2006) 13: He’d made the hundred and fifty grand lick in Quebec.
1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 33: I do jewelry licks. I go in jewelry stores, jack ’em up.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 lick Definition: to steal something from someone. Example: Man we just pulled this lick at the store.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] With the money he got out of the lick, it was basically New York’s money he was spending.
2020		G. Krauze Who They Was 7: Usually it’s Big D, Gotti and me who get the biggest cut [...] of the lick.

7. (orig. US) a particular phrase of music, i.e. a guitar lick.

1931		Don Redmond ‘Shakin’ the African’ 🎵 Cornet licks, red hot licks, they’ll mow you down!
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 510: If they had the right hot licks on their first broadcast, they hit the big time overnight.
1953		Kramer & Karr Teen-Age Gangs 181: The jazz band took over from the sweet, and as the hot licks sounded Angel-O slid from Action’s embrace.
1964		L. Hairston ‘The Winds of Change’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 316: Just when the licks was coming good, she opens up on me again.
1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 104: I wanna get down all the hip licks so I can get with the people that’s playin the hip licks.
1981		G. Tate ‘Knee Deep in Blood Ulmer’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 19: In between the strings oodles of cryptic licks that noodle towards unorthodox and unsettling pattern shifts.
1995		G. Small Ruthless 218: Then there are the latest ‘licks’ (tunes) and ‘champion’ sound systems.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 128: Gusto sat behind a small drum kit practising his licks.

8. (US black) a plan, an idea, a scheme.

1944		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Apr. 8B: The vipers [...] were mellow and their knowledge wigs tight. ‘Skin me, Jim, that’s the lick’.
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 114: They’ve got those recordings of Trammel’s own voice, his speeches and sermons and get-hot licks.
1960		‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 11: He’s a carpenter kitty and he’s got his own lick.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 163: That’s a tough lick.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 34: I had my little licks I did to make money.
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 82: ‘I keep track of who’s doin’ what. I got an set up licks...Like who we’re gonna rob’.

9. fig. what one does, an action, one’s personal preference.

1960		‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 10: They wanted to dig his Lick, you see, Dig his Miracle Lick!
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 177: Jobless. I kept waiting for a panic lick, but nothing happened.

10. (US) a stroke of financial good luck.

1970

D. Jenkins Dogged Victims 58: I thought it was a big lick to get $300 and some clubs and balls.

11. (US) an opportunity.

1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 35: You better just handle the licks you gonna get here in the joint.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 27: [W]hat was going on with Doris Montalvo had to do with getting her last licks in before her beauty lost its luster.

12. (drugs) a puff on a crack cocaine pipe.

1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 222: He always said the Lord’s Prayer, just before he took a lick.
2005		Jade LB Keisha the Sket (2021) 59: ‘U kno afta da first lik iz nxt 2 imposible 2 stop’.