To lick means to pass your tongue across something. A dog licks your hand to show affection, or you might lick an ice cream cone on a hot summer day to catch the drips running down the sides. Licking is how many animals clean themselves and their young, and how we taste things we're curious about.

The word can also mean to defeat someone soundly. If your soccer team licks the other team 5 to 0, you've beaten them decisively.

Less commonly, a lick can be a small amount of something, like when you do just a lick of work on your homework, meaning barely any effort at all. Musicians also use the word to describe a short, catchy series of notes, like a guitar lick in a rock song.

The phrase “lick your wounds” means to recover after a defeat or setback, like an injured animal retreating to heal. If your team loses the championship game, you might need time to lick your wounds before you're ready to think about next season.