👅 To touch with tongue 🏆 To defeat 👊 A hit 🧠 To solve 👅 A tongue touch 🧂 A mineral spot

lick

8 8.1

A natural place where animals lick salt or minerals

noun
/lɪk/

: saladero

All of us undomesticated writers eventually make our way out here to the Great Salt Lick.
a salt lick

Examples

You were right about that salt lick, getting low.

Avalanche (1978)
Near the door, I have hung a salt lick on a piece of wire.

Fiction book (1999)
That's why the animals that one sees coming to salt licks are deer and antelope, not lions and tigers.

Academic text (1991)
The deer often gather around the lick to get the minerals they need.
During the summer, many animals flock to the mineral lick for essential nutrients.
We set up a salt lick in the backyard to attract wildlife for observation.

Synonyms

salt lick

vslick

1 6.5

A place where animals go to lick salt to get minerals

is specifically a natural mineral deposit visited by animals not an artificial site

Idioms

lick of

Informal

3 6.8

A very small amount of something, often a taste like honey

to lick one's wounds

Informal

2 7.0

To rest and feel better after a loss or disappointment

to lick someone's ass

Offensive

9.9

To praise someone too much to get their favor in a rude way

to lick someone's boot

Offensive

8.9

Praise or act very friendly toward a boss to get something for yourself

to lick the CEO's balls

Offensive

9.9

To praise and obey a powerful person to get their support

to lick the pants off

Informal

9.6

To beat someone completely or praise them too much

lick and a promise

9.9

A quick, not complete job done hastily and meant to be finished properly later

Compounds

salt lick

1 6.5

A place where animals go to lick salt to get minerals

Surface Forms

lick singular

licks plural

Etymology

Lick for a natural salt or mineral place comes from animals 'licking' those spots to get minerals, so people called the place a lick because animals visit it to lick salt.