APAD: Lick into shape

Meaning:

    To transform a faulty object or venture into something that works effectively.

 

Background:

   You don't need to watch many 1950s B-feature westerns before you come across

   some hapless cowpoke getting a `licking'. That use of `lick', that is,

   `thrash in a fight', is pretty much restricted to the USA, although it did

   actually originate in England in the 1500s. Beating someone into shape sounds

   as though it might be the source of `lick into shape' but it is in fact the

   common use of `lick', that is, `pass the tongue over', a meaning that dates

   from a few centuries earlier, that the phrase alludes to.

 

   The first example I can find of the figurative use of the phrase is in

   Gilbert Burnet's An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of

   England, 1699:

 

     "Men did not know how to mould and frame it; but at last it was licked into

     shape."

 

   `Lick into shape' sprang from the belief held in medieval Europe that bear

   cubs were born shapeless and had to be made into ursine form by their

   mother's licking.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Matt got his blackbelt a year ago and had since moved to Truckee. He visited

back in January and taught a class. I chatted with him at the door as I was

leaving and he complimented me on my progress.

 

"I can take a beating today," I laughed, "and recover the next day to take

another one. That was all the progress I made."

 

I had some strength but was in no way gifted or super strong. I was not even as

technical as some of the guys. There was no magic. Only years of consistent

training licked me into shape.

所有跟帖： 

• Good proverb! reminds me of myOwn: tweaked knee goingHiking -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 08:57:18

• MtBaker, limped for 1st 1.5hr, butLickIntoShape&noPain after -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 08:59:47

• That's the point! Living organisms bounce back from small -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 09:05:37

• traumas,injuries and setbacks and become better and stronger -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 09:07:04

• U explained the APAD well. Lick=kick:)) Like your story. 打不死 -暖冬cool夏- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 09:13:59

• Thanks! Most likely my partners 不往死裏打 :-))) -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 09:25:50

• I almost bite icecream while other nations around absolutely -移花接木- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 10:27:44

• lick like dogs do-----into smooth cone shape -移花接木- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 10:30:10

• That sounds like a quote but it's the idea. -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 14:07:46

• 水滴石穿？ -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 15:31:39

• 水滴石穿: dripping water wears away stone -甜蟲蟲- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 15:47:05

• 化腐朽為神奇 -移花接木- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 18:32:39

• More like fine-tuning a crude model. -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 20:46:39

• 雕琢成型？語文也沒有學好，知道的成語不多 ：（ -甜蟲蟲- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 15:50:28

• 玉不琢不成器？ -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 15:54:28

• 覺得有點這個意思。但我不太喜歡這個成語或說法。lick into shape 正能量一些 ：） -甜蟲蟲- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 16:18:04

• 打磨成型. -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/30/2024 postreply 20:47:12

• 覺得這個最接近：） -甜蟲蟲- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/31/2024 postreply 11:32:08

• Simple and rough: power-washing, sand-blasting, etc. :-)) -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/31/2024 postreply 14:58:27

• 點石成金 -方外居士- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/31/2024 postreply 06:59:39

• Gold is gold, any shape :-) -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/31/2024 postreply 08:29:12

• 化腐朽為神奇 -方外居士- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/31/2024 postreply 09:13:15

• 要不要隨便寫一句英文接龍！：） -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/31/2024 postreply 15:56:42