Aug. 12th, 2013

[identity profile] ersatz-read.livejournal.com
lickerish (lkr-sh), adj.
1.  greedy; desirous
2.  lecherous; lustful
3.  fond of delicious food
4.  (obsolete) tempting; choice; dainty.

(For what it's worth, definition 3 is marked as archaic in my 1983 Webster's dictionary, but not in my 1963 World Book dictionary.)
Etymology:  around 1500, from Middle English likerous, "pleasing to the palate".

"...And would'st thou seek again to trap me here
With lickerish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?
Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,
I would not taste thy treasonous offer; none,
But such as are good men, can give good things;
And that which is not good, is not delicious
To a well-govern'd and wise appetite."...
  - John Milton, "Comus" (1634)

' "Sawbone & Mr. Quillcock!" cried Pocock upon seeing Henry & me.  "Art thou come to rescue our virgin sisters from my scabdragon?"  Pocock danced with a marlinespike in a vulgar fashion & the seamen clapped with lickerish laughter.  Henry, laughing, retorted that he preferred his virgins without beards.  Pocock's riposte on maidens' beards is too obscene to record. '
  - David Mitchell, "Cloud Atlas"
(2004)
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