Quick touches with the tongue, or in music, short melodic phrases or riffs. Can also mean hits or blows in informal usage.
From Old English 'liccian' meaning 'to lick,' from Proto-Germanic 'laikijan.' The musical sense emerged in 1930s jazz slang, referring to brief improvised melodic phrases.
Guitar 'licks' got their name because jazz musicians would literally lick their lips before playing these tasty melodic phrases - the connection between musical and culinary satisfaction runs deep in our language of artistic expression.
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