Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. utterly defeated.

1800		‘Tight Little Island’ in Jovial Songster 54: By Dane, Saxon, or Pict, we ne’er had been lick’d.
1821		‘Battle’ in Fancy I XVII 405: Josh had been likewise licked against his will in 17 Minutes.
1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods I 97: I’m a licked man.
1847		Thackeray Punch’s Prize Novelists: The Stars and Stripes in Burlesques (1903) 225: If your reglars jines General Washington, ’tis to larn from him how Britishers are licked.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 197: I’ll have you both licked when I get out, that I will.
1866		‘Irish Church Question’ in C. Hindley Curiosities of Street Lit. (1871) 84: The place-loving Tories [...] were dead licked.
1871		E. Eggleston Hoosier School-Master (1892) 39: But ef you git licked, don’t come on us.
1888		R. Barnett Police Sergeant C 21 82: ‘What news have you got?’ ‘Dead licked, both me and Clark, sir.’.
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 7 Jan. 228: I wouldn’t be licked by a hat, anyhow!
1908		Sporting Times 4 July 1/5: If through any fault of his own he gets licked, he’ll be added to the list this evening!
1914		H. Lawson ‘A Few Remarks on Bill and Jim’ in Roderick (1972) 717: The name [expeditionary] is a wise precaution, because it will come in handy whenever we’re licked.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 169: I got this guy licked!
1930		K. Brush Young Man of Manhattan 20: Damn it! She’s got me licked!
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 278: We ain’t licked, we’re gettin’ bigger all the time.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 142: I know when I’m licked.
1963		(con. 1944) L. Glassop Rats in New Guinea 94: To the full parade he said the brigade was licked — that was his word — by an inferior enemy.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 178: A drug habit that couldn’t be licked.
1981		W. Russell Educating Rita I iv: He’s got me licked, I don’t know what he’s on about.
1990		(con. 1930s–60s) H. Huncke Guilty of Everything (1998) 45: If he had started in after me [...] I’d have been licked.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 97: I know when I’m licked.

2. exhausted.

1971

N. Smith Gumshoe (1998) 30: I got to the club an hour late and really licked. I’d run from where I jumped off the bus.

3. (UK black) in fig. use, insane,. mentally unstable.

2018

Unknown T ‘Mad about Bars’ 🎵 Gyal must be licked if she thinks imma come to her crib / To get caught up and then get nicked.