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What's the meaning of the phrase 'A lick and a promise'? A cursory effort, for instance at painting or tidying up. It alludes to the perfunctory washing performed by children.
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N – A Lick And A Promise by Gillian. E. Shaw This poemstates how, he, along with his wife, worked to wash the clothes and did the domestic chores. It seems to him a lick and promise type of chores as they did everything at the spot. However, by the end of the day when everything was done, it seemed to them that they had removed a big hurdle. Howeve...
Lick and a Promiseby Aerosmith This is lyric sung by Aerosmith narrates the storyof Johnny, who is fascinated by seeing women engaged in love and parties. He lives a typical rock and roll lifestyle without being serious about life. The use of ‘a lick and a promise’ shows that Johnny does all his job carelessly, including his relationship with the l...
From the Story “The Old House at Home” by Joseph Mitchell from The New Yorker This is the classic story of old John McSorley, who owns a bar in New York. The writer, Mitchell, describes the atmosphereof the bar in this paragraph using this phrase in the first line. The use of this phrase shows the hasty work done by McSorley before welcoming his cu...
A Lick and a Promise Idiom Meaning Explained. The oddball phrase “a lick and a promise” is meant to describe someone doing a quick and superficial job with the full intention of coming back to it at a later date to finish it better or more thoroughly.
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noun. 1. US : a quick and careless attempt to do something. They gave the budget problems a lick and a promise and then moved on to the next issue. 2. British : the act of washing something quickly or carelessly. He gave the car a lick and a promise.
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A superficial effort made without care or enthusiasm. For example, I haven't time to do a good job of vacuuming, just enough for a lick and a promise. This expression is believed to allude to the quick lick a cat or other animal might give itself and a promise to do more or better at some future time. [Mid-1800s]
A lick and a promise is a British colloquialism for a cursory, superficial and half-hearted effort and dates from the mid-19th century. It derives from lick meaning a cursory, half-hearted effort at having a wash or a small quantity (as in a lick of paint) together with the promise to do better next time.
(*Typically: finish something with ~; give something ~.) I was pressed for time, so I just gave the housework a lick and a promise. Mary spent so much time on her history paper that she had to finish her math homework with a lick and a promise. See also: and, lick, promise.
