Dictionary

take a licking and keep on ticking en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Derived from the advertising slogan for Timex wrist-watches.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To be tough; to have endurance; to have the capacity to absorb stress or damage, but still be able to function.
   • How am I supposed to knock these other guys off. My wild card is nothing but defensive. I take a licking and keep on ticking. Big whoop. 2008, George R. R. Martin et al., Inside Straight, page 124:
   • But the car amazed him. It kept going. And that too struck him as funny. Takes a licking, keeps on ticking. 1986, David Morrell, The Fraternity of the Stone, page 177:
   • Insurance allows your business to take a licking and keep on ticking. 2006, Anthony Mancuso, LLC Or Corporation?: How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business, page 47:
   • "That," the first said, "was one hardy son of a bitch. Took a licking but went on ticking. I heard he made it all the way down off the mountain before he snuffed it." 1994, Pinckney Benedict, Dogs of God, page 204:
   • The persistence-through-change of Romantic ideologemes — the way they've taken a licking and kept on ticking — is explicable by their extension and saturation — their participation — in ongoing formations of capitalism and disciplinarity. 1997, Ira Livingston, Arrow of Chaos: Romanticism and Postmodernity, section 2.3:

Forms