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Glite Dictionary
to lick out

to lick out

8.4
Use your tongue to remove food or liquid from inside a container
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : limpiar lamiendo
  • He carefully licked out the ice cream carton to enjoy the last bit of his favorite flavor.

Examples

  • I will lick out the plate.

    Dark Harvest III: Skarecrow (2004)

  • Then we would take turns licking out the insides.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • My dog always licks out her food bowl after finishing her dinner.

  • The kitten licked out the bottom of the yogurt container to get every drop.

Synonyms

to lick
vsto lick out
310 1.0

To pass the tongue over something to taste or clean it

refers specifically to cleaning inside containers thoroughly, not just passing the tongue
to lick out the bowl
vsto lick out
8.2

To eat the last food in a bowl with your tongue

is used to clean any container interior thoroughly with the tongue

How Clean

to clean out
91 3.2
to lick out
8.4
to scrub
55 1.0
to wipe
531 1.0
to scrape
62 1.2

Surface Forms

lick out infinitive
licked out past
licked out past participle
licking out present participle
licks out third person singular

Morphology

lick + out

The meaning 'to clean the inside of something thoroughly by licking' is directly derived from combining 'lick' (to pass the tongue to taste or clean) with the particle 'out' (removing something from the interior). This verb+particle composition is compositional and follows a common English pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Lick out comes from the simple image of a tongue reaching into a bowl or jar to get every last bit: the lick is the tongue action and out shows taking the food away. That's why it means 'to clean the inside of something completely by licking it'.