Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LI-CEN'TIOUS-NESS, n.

Excessive indulgence of liberty; contempt of the just restraints of law, morality and decorum. The licentiousness of authors is justly condemned; the licentiousness of the press is punishable by law. Law is the god of wise men; licentiousness is the god of fools. Plal.

LICH, a. [Sax. lic. See Like.]

Like; even; equal. [Obs.] Gower.

LICH, n.

[Sax. lic or lice, a body, the flesh, a dead body or corpse; lichama, a living body; hence lichwake, watching with the dead; Lichfield, the field of dead bodies; Gott leik, the flesh, a body; leikan, to please, Sax. licean Goth. leiks, like; G. gleich; D. lyk and gelyk, like; G. leiche, a dead body, D. lyk; Heb. {foreign} chalak, smooth; Ar. {foreign} chalaka, to shave, to make smooth; {foreign} galaka, to measure, to form, to create, to make smooth and equable, to be beautiful; derivatives, creature, man, people. We see the radical sense is smooth, or rather to make even, equal, smooth; hence like, likeness, and a body. We have here an instance of the radical sense of man and body, a most exactly analogous to that of Adam, from to make equal, to be like.

LICH'EN, n. [L. from Gr. {foreign}.]

1. In botany, the name for an extensive division of cryptogamian plants, constituting a genus in the order of Algæ in the Linnean system, but now forming a distinct natural order. They appear in the form of thin flat crusts, covering rocks and the bark of trees, or in foliaceous expansions, or branched like a shrub in miniature, or sometimes only as a gelatinous mass, or a powdery substance. They are called rock moss and tree moss, and some of the liverworts are of this order. They also include the Iceland moss and the reindeer moss; but they are entirely distinct from the true mosses (Musci.) Ed. Encyc.
2. In medicine, a papular cutaneous eruption consisting of diffuse red pimples, which are attended with a trouble some sense of tingling and pricking. A common variety of this affection resembles the effect of stinging with nettles, and is called nettle-lichen.

LICH-EN-O-GRAPH'IC, or LICH-EN-O-GRAPH'IC-AL, a.

Pertaining to lichenography.

LICH-EN-OG'RAPH-IST, n.

One who describes the lichen.

LICH-EN-OG'RA-PHY, n. [Gr. {foreign} and {foreign}, to write.]

A description of the vegetables called lichens; the science which illustrates the natural history of the lichens. Acharius.

LICH'-OWL, n.

An owl vulgarly supposed to foretell death.

LIC'IT, a. [L. licitus.]

Lawful.

LIC'IT-LY, adv.

Lawfully.

LIC'IT-NESS, n.

Lawfulness.

LICK, n. [W. llac, a lick, a slap, a ray, a blade; llaciaw, to lick, to shoot out, to throw or lay about, to cudgel. Qu. the root of flog and slay, to strike. See Ar. lakka, to strike.]

1. A blow; a stroke. [Not an elegant word.]
2. A wash; something rubbed on. [Not in use.]

LICK, n.

In America, a place where beasts of the forest lick for salt, at salt springs.

LICK, v.t.

To strike repeatedly for punishment; to flog; to chastise with blows. [Not an elegant word; but probably flog, L.fligo, is from the root of this word.]

LICK, v.t. [Sax. liccian; Goth. laigwan; G. lecken, schlecken; D. likken; Dan. likker, slikker; Sw. slekia, slikia; Fr. lecher; It. leccare; Ir. leagaim, lighim; Russ. lokayu, liju; L. lingo; Gr. {foreign}; Sans. lih. Class Lg, No. 12, 18. See Like and Sleek.]

1. To pass or draw the tongue over the surface; as, a dog licks a wound. Temple.
2. To lap; to take in by the tongue; as, a dog or cat licks milk. 1 Kings xxi. To lick up, to devour; to consume entirely. Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as an ox licketh up the grass of the field. Numb. xxii. To lick the dust, to be slain; to perish in battle. His enemies shall lick the dust. Ps. xxii.

LICK'ED, pp.

Taken in by the tongue; lapped.

LICK'ER, n.

One that licks.

LICK'ER-ISH, a. [D. Dan. lekker, G. lecker, Sw. lacker, nice, dainty, delicate. This seems to be connected with D. lekken, G. lecken, Dan. lekker, Sw. lacka, to leak, for in D. the verb signifies also to make sleek or smooth, and in G. to lick, which unites the word with lick, and perhaps with like. In Sax. liccera is a glutton, and this is the Italian lecco, a glutton, a lecher; leccardo, greedy; leccare, to lick. The Arm. has lickez, lickerish. The phrase, the mouth waters for a thing, may throw light on this word, and if the first syllable of delight, delicious and delicate, is a prefix, these are of the same family, as may be the Gr. {foreign}, sweet. The senses of watery, smooth, sweet, are allied; likeness is often connected with smoothness, in radical sense, and sleek is probably from the root of lick, like.]

1. Nice in the choice of food; dainty; as, a lickerish palate. L'Estrange.
2. Eager; greedy to swallow; eager to taste or enjoy; having a keen relish. Sidney. Dryden. Locke.
3. Dainty; tempting the appetite; as, lickerish baits. Milton.,

LICK'ER-ISH-LY, adv.

Daintily.

LICK'ER-ISH-NESS, n.

Niceness of palate; daintiness.

LICK'ING, ppr.

Lapping; taking in by the tongue.

LIC'O-RICE, n. [It. liquirizia; L. glycyrrhiza; Gr. {foreign}, {foreign}, sweet, and {foreign}, {foreign}, root.]

A plant of the genus Glycyrrhiza. The root of this plant abounds with a sweet juice, much used in demulcent compositions. Encyc.

LIC'O-ROUS, or LIC'O-ROUS-NESS,

for Lickerish, &c. [Not used.]

LIC'TOR, n. [L. Qu. lick, to strike.]

An officer among the Romans, who bore an ax and fasces or rods, as ensigns of his office. The duty of a lictor was to attend the chief magistrates when they appeared in public, to clear the way and cause due respect to be paid to them. A dictator was attended by twenty-four lictors, a consul by twelve, and a master of the horse by six. It was also the duty of lictors to apprehend and punish criminals. Encyc. Johnson.

LID, n. [Sax. hlid, a cover; hlidan, to cover; ge-hlid, a roof; D. Dan. lid; L. claudo, cludo; Gr. {foreign}, contracted from {foreign}; Heb. {foreign} or {foreign}, to cover, Ar. latta. Class Ld, No. 1, 8, 9.]

A cover; that which shuts the opening of a vessel or box; as, the lid of a chest or trunk; also, the cover of the eye, the membrane which is drawn over the eyeball of an animal at pleasure, and which is intended for its protection; the eyelid.