lick into shape

English

WOTD – 4 January 2023

Etymology

From the medieval notion that bear cubs were born shapeless, and that the mother would lick them into the shape of a bear; see, for example, The Anatomy of Melancholy (2nd edition, 1624) by Robert Burton (spelling modernized): “I should have revised, corrected, and amended this Tract; but I had not (as I say) that happy leisure, no Amanuenses’ assistance, and was therefore enforced, as a Bear doth her whelps, to bring forth this confused lump, and had not time to lick it into form, as she doth her young ones, but even so to publish it, as it was first written, […].”

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌlɪk ɪntə ˈʃeɪp/

• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -eɪp
• Hyphenation: lick in‧to shape

Verb

lick into shape (third-person singular simple present licks into shape, present participle licking into shape, simple past and past participle licked into shape)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To exert considerable effort to change (someone or something) into a desired state.

   Synonyms: beat into shape, get into shape, knock into shape, whip into shape

   • 1699, Gilbert, Bishop of Sarum [i.e., Gilbert Burnet], “Article XXVIII. Of the Lord’s Supper.”, in An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[obert] Roberts, for Ri[chard] Chiswell, […], published 1700, →OCLC, page 53:

     […] Men did not knovv hovv to mould and frame it [the doctrine of transubstantiation]; but at laſt it vvas licked into ſhape; the vvhole Philoſophy being caſt into ſuch a Mould as agreed vvith it.

   • 1897, Charlotte M[aria] Mason, “The Parent as Schoolmaster”, in Parents and Children […], London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. […], →OCLC, page 59:

     "People send us their cubs to lick into shape, and what can we do?" Now the answer to this query concerns parents rather closely: what and how much can the schoolmaster do to make the boy "sit up" who has not been to the manner bred?

   • 1916, Angela Brazil, “A Scare”, in The Luckiest Girl in the School, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A. Stokes Company, published 1922, page 130:

     “I believe we’d just better train up for all we’re worth,” she said at the committee meeting. “It’ll take ages to lick an eleven into shape. What we want is to get a cricket atmosphere into the school. You can’t develop these things all in a few weeks. You’ve got to catch your kids young and teach them, before you get a school with a reputation. I feel with all the games that we’re simply building foundations at present at the Seaton High. This term especially is spade-work. I’ll do all I can to get things going, but it will be the Games Captain who comes after me who’ll reap the reward.”

   • 1919, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Good-Conduct Club”, in Rainbow Valley, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, →OCLC, page 243:

     You're disgracing your pa and I feel for him. […] And I'd like to see him happy and comfortable, with his buttons on and his meals decent, and you young ones licked into shape, and that old cat of a Martha put in her proper place.

   • 1922 August, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Fisherman’s Rest”, in The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, § 2, page 126:

     Believe me, Mr. Jellyband was in no two minds about "them murderin' furriners over yonder" who had done away with their King and Queen and all their nobility and quality, and whom England had at last decided to lick into shape.

   • 1944 March–April, Chas. S. Lake, “Some C.M.Es. I Have Known: VIII—Sir H. N. Gresley”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 75:

     After wrestling with this material whenever opportunity occurred during the next two or three weeks I got matters sorted out and sent the article to [Nigel] Gresley, mentioning in so doing that I felt it still required some licking into shape, and would he please be perfectly frank in dealing with it.

Translations

to exert considerable effort to change (someone or something) into a desired state

• Finnish: laittaa kuntoon