Meaning
To hit or strike — and as a noun, a blow. 'Licks' means a beating or a well-deserved punishment. The word stretches into set phrases: 'lick a tune' (play a song), 'lick shot' (fire a shot, or a burst of celebration).
Senses
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verb To hit, strike, or knock.
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Him lick di ball outta di park.
He hit the ball out of the park.
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Mind yuh lick yuh head.
Watch you don't knock your head.
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noun A blow, or (as 'licks') a beating or punishment.
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Two lick an him quiet.
A couple of blows and he went quiet.
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Di pickney get licks fi it.
The child got a beating for it.
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Origin
From an older English sense of 'lick' meaning a blow or to thrash, kept vivid in Jamaican long after it faded elsewhere.
How it’s used
'Lick shot' in dancehall is a celebratory sound-effect or gunshot salute, not literal violence. 'Lick a tune' means to play or perform a song.
Gloss adapted from A Learner's Glossary of Jamaican, Open Grammar Project, licensed under CC BY 4.0. View the source work · CC BY 4.0