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单词 like
释义

liken.1

Brit. /lʌɪk/, U.S. /laɪk/
Forms: see like adj., adv., conj., and prep.; also early Middle English læche.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: like adj.
Etymology: < like adj. Compare earlier ylike n. and likeness n.In sense 1 perhaps partly representing the reflex of an ultimately related Old English noun. Currency of this noun in Old English is perhaps implied by compounds, especially mannlīca human form, image of a man, (more specifically) sculpted image, statue (cognate with or formed similarly to Old High German manlīhho , manlīhha , manlīh image of a man, statue, Old Icelandic mannlíkan image of a man, supernatural being in human shape, Gothic manleika image, form); compare also eoforlīc and swīnlīc , both in sense ‘figure or image of a boar’ (with reference to decorated helmets in Beowulf):OE Beowulf (2008) 1453 Swa hine [sc. the helmet] fyrndagum worhte wæpna smið, wundrum teode, besette swinlicum.OE Daniel 174 Þære burge weard anne manlican ofer metodes est, gyld of golde, gumum arærde.lOE Adrian & Ritheus (1982) xlviii. 40 Twege manlican beoð on mannes eagum; gif þu þa ne gesihst þonne swilt se man and bið gewiten ær þrim dagum. However, if such a nominal derivative had occurred in Old English outside compounds, it would probably have shown ge- y- prefix (compare Gothic galeika person of the same body) and been merged with noun uses of ylike adj.; compare ylike n. 2. Compare discussion at like adj., adv., conj., and prep. With sense 3 compare Old English efnlīca (a person's) equal, apparently a noun use of efnlic evenly adj. (forms of both noun and adjective showing y- prefix are also attested, i.e. respectively ge-efenlīca , ge-efenlic ). The early Middle English form læche (see quot. c1275 at sense 1) probably reflects confusion with leches , læches (plural) looks, appearance, demeanour, countenance (a word used several times in the same source; showing the reflex of Old English lēc look, regard < the same base as lōcian look v.).
†1. Form, shape, guise. Frequently with preceding noun (often in the possessive). Cf. likeness n. 1a. Obsolete (archaic and rare in later use).The archaic poetic use in quot. 1876 is perhaps also used in place of likeness simply to fit the poem's metre (iambic heptameter).
ΚΠ
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 5813 An der off þa fowwre der. Wass inn an manness like.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 59 Þe deuel com on neddre liche to adam.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 1434 (MED) He ȝealp þat he wolde fleon on fuȝeles læche [c1300 Otho liche].
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 283 Sche [sc. Semiramis] desgised hir self in þe childes liche.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 2995 In stede of man a bestes lyke He syh.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 304 Lyke, hoc instar.
1876 W. Morris tr. Virgil Æneids vii. 416 And to an ancient woman's like her shape she fashionèd.
2.
†a. with like: in a like manner, similarly. Cf. in like adv. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb]
ylikeeOE
alsoOE
with likec1175
swilk12..
in (also on and without preposition) like mannerc1330
in semblable case(s, in case(s semblable1390
item1398
in likec1400
semblably1420
in like wise1422
likelya1425
likewisec1443
alikewisec1450
ylikedealc1450
in like casea1459
ylikewise1460
otherwaysc1485
semblable1490
sic-like1513
like1529
seemably1535
likeways1551
agreeably1561
fellowlikea1569
alliably1593
likewisely1605
in specie1632
similarly1657
resemblingly1661
kindredly1765
evenwise1866
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 8190 Þatt oþerr follc all ȝede bun Swa summ itt birrþ wiþþ like.
b. Something of the same kind as that previously mentioned or implied. Usually with determiner: in early use esp. other; in modern English only in the like (most commonly and the like at sense 2d). Formerly also with to (cf. like adj. 1a).Formerly, esp. in early modern English (see, e.g., quots. 1626, 1717), approaching a pronoun in use; cf. same pron., and see also sense 2e. Now frequently in negative, interrogative, or conditional contexts, often distinguished from sense 3a only by the absence of a possessive; cf., e.g., quot. 1978 and quot. 1958 at sense 3a(a); both constructions are common in Irish English.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [noun] > that which resembles something else
swilkc1175
anlike1340
liking1340
likeningc1350
semblancec1374
resemblancea1393
likenessa1400
semblablec1400
similitudinary?a1425
like1440
assemblable?1530
a horse of another (also the same, etc.) colour1530
resembler1570
fellowa1616
remonstrance1640
simile1743
ditto1776
something of the sort1839
that or this sort of thing1848
assimilate1935
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 213 Grypynge wythe þe hande, or oþer lyke [?a1475 Winch. lyk], constrictio.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 58 (MED) Vngula..bigynneþ gynneþ bi þe nose and goiþ ouer þe yȝe til þat he haue keuerid al þe yȝe and knottis þat ben in þe yȝe and oþere lijk.
1495 Accedence (de Worde) sig. Bivv An Interiection..betokeneth passion of a mannys soule with an vnperfyte voyce..as, Hate, hey, fy, alas,..and other lyke.
a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) v. 3946 To se þe qwik þe ded dispoile..Þe lik it is..A gentil man to reiff a prest.
a1547 Earl of Surrey Poems (1964) 8 The whole effect of Natures plaint, When she had lost the perfit mold, The like to whom she could not paint.
1555 R. Eden Two Viages into Guinea in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 345v Sum doo wysshe he had doonne the lyke by theyrs.
1556 R. Robinson tr. T. More Utopia (ed. 2) sig. Hiiv The verie like in England in the riuer of Thamys.
1572 W. Malim in tr. N. Martinengo True Rep. Famagosta Ded. sig. Aüv Had not Q. Curtius, or some other like..reviued the remembraunce of him.
1606 G. W. tr. Justinus Hist. iv. 21 The like to this may be accounted of the continuall fire burning in the mountaine of Ætna.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. i. 30 Macb. Good repose the while! Banq. Thankes, Sir: the like to you! View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. i. 66 Did you euer heare the like ? View more context for this quotation
1626 F. Bacon New Atlantis 30 in Sylua Syluarum His Vnder Garments were the like that we saw him weare in the Chariott.
1651 N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs 84 Syrups, electuaries, pills, Loches, Troshiscks and other like.
1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World v. i. §87. 467/1 Henry the seventh..having composed matters in Germany..hastened to do the like in Italy.
1717 I. Newton Let. May in Corr. (1976) VI. 391 A Clerk for seeing the moneys assayed & weighed & entring the proceedings in books. Another Clerk..for doing the like in behalf of the King.
1732 A. Pope True Narr. what passed in London in J. Swift et al. Misc.: 3rd Vol. 270 The like might be observ'd in all sorts of Ministers, though not of the Church of England.
1790 Coll. Voy. round World IV. i. 1242 The drops were such as no experienced seaman on board had seen the like.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus ii. 31 She never can commit the like again.
1878 R. Simpson School of Shakspere I. 35 It is confessed that Hawkins and Cobham were meant to be buccaneers, and it is absurd to deny the like of Stucley.
1978 T. Kelly Sweeney Todd i. i. 9 Two pairs of new sox every month. Did you ever hear the like?
2002 J. McGahern That they may face Rising Sun (2003) 30 Once the rush to get away started, you never saw the like.
c. With the preceded by another determiner, as any the like, many the like, other the like.Not now in standard use; only found in and other the like and or other the like as occasional variants of and the like and or the like (see sense 2d).
ΚΠ
1549 J. Proctor Fal of Late Arrian sig. O.vi In the Scriptures Chryst is termed by these names, as humble, meeke, obedient. &c And agayne, worme, lyon, syn with other the lyke.
1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 7 I prai you let this on suffice in stead of a mani the like.
a1592 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 97 As for these objections, or any the like.
1631 T. Powell Tom of All Trades (1876) 145 And very many other the like.
1660 G. Pressick Answer to G. Williams Ld. Bp. of Ossorie 102 Christs Laws..forbideth many things, as invocation of Saints, worshiping of Images, Adultery and Fornication, and many the like, which the Pope alloweth.
1730 tr. J. Kunkel in Pyrotechnical Disc. (ed. 2) i. i. 3 Cannot I do the same thing with Salt of Tartar or putrify'd Potash, as well as with that precious Salt of Cinnamon, or any the like?
1810 J. Porter Sc. Chiefs V. xv. 319 We must think his country honoured in so steady a patriot; and may surely wish we had many the like in our own!
1865 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 442 Colloquialisms and vulgarisms..; or words of dialectic currency, unknown to the general language; or other the like.
2011 U.S. Patent Applic. 2011/0266230 A1 1 The present invention relates generally to support apparatus..for holding portable electronic devices such as portable computers and other the like.
d. and the like: used at the end of a list to indicate that further, similar items are included; and so on, and so forth, et cetera. Similarly or the like. See also suchlike pron. a.Compare earlier parallel use of and other like, e.g. 1495 at sense 2b.
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1556 M. Huggarde Displaying of Protestantes f. 19 There were also a secte called Manichæi, who not onely refused flesh, but also egges, milke & chese, and the lyke.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) xxix. 173 Bowling is good for the Stone and Raines; Shooting for the longs & breast; gentle walking for the stomacke; riding for the head; and the like.
1653 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees 67 If it be Clay-ground, then bring in some warmer soyls to mixe with it, as Sand, Ashes, Sheeps-dung, Pigeons, or Hens-dung, or the like.
1710 O. Sansom Acct. Life 7 Young-men, at their vain Sports and Pastimes, as Ringing, Dancing and the like.
1773 H. Chapone Lett. Improvem. Mind II. 43 If you have any acquired talent..such as music, painting, or the like.
1833 S. Austin Characteristics Goethe I. ii. 30 Questions concerning time, space, mind, matter, God, immortality, and the like.
1852 W. E. Gladstone in Edinb. Rev. Apr. 362 The mundane, earthy, instruments of taxation, police, soldiery..and the like.
1932 Collier's 9 Jan. 40/1 In the hunting and fishing stage of a people the highly exchangeable articles are commonly shells, skins, animals' teeth..and the like.
1989 Brit. Archaeol. May 13/2 Every owner of a listed building, scheduled monument or the like should be aware of..this Guide.
2012 Guardian 17 Aug. 34/5 Happily, we are no longer permitted to discriminate against gender, sexuality, race, religion, disability and the like.
†e. the like: (as a demonstrative pronoun) that of, those of. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > [noun] > direction with respect to that of another
inclination?a1560
the like1641
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [noun] > those of like character
the like1641
1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. F. Biondi Hist. Civil Warres Eng. I. ii. 49 The latter two not being able to withstand the power of blood, nor the first the like of friendship [It. contrastare..all' amiciçia].
1653 tr. F. Carmeni Nissena 145 He had changed his love affections into the like of Friendship, or rather of obsequiousness.
1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. Bentivoglio Compl. Hist. Warrs Flanders 214 His death was accompanied by the like of Orange.
a1683 P. Warwick Mem. Reign Charles I (1701) 106 By this disbanding of the Emperor's forces, and the like of the King of Denmark's,..the King of Sweden got opportunity to raise a considerable army of veteran soldiers.
3. With possessive (typically preceded by a possessive pronoun or followed by of).
a. A person's equal or peer; a person or thing which corresponds to, resembles, or is the counterpart of another; such people or things considered as a type or kind.As singular use is typically understood as referring to a type (rather than to an individual), the singular is typically used even in plural contexts (see, e.g., quot. 1959 at sense 3a(a)), although the plural is occasionally found; see sense 3a(c) and the likes of at Phrases 3.
(a) In negative, interrogative, or conditional contexts with the implication that the person or thing specified is unequalled or unrivalled.Typically used to suggest someone or something of outstanding merit, but in later use sometimes also used depreciatively of someone or something that causes dismay, annoyance, etc. (cf. the likes of at Phrases 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [noun] > equal, counterpart, or equivalent
ylikeeOE
likea1200
make?c1225
fellow?a1425
proportion?a1425
countervailc1430
matcha1450
meetc1450
pareil?c1450
resemblant1484
equivalent1502
countermatch1587
second1599
parallel1600
equipollent1611
balancea1616
tantamount1637
analogy1646
analogate1652
form-fellow1659
equivalency1698
par1711
homologizer1716
peel1722
analogon1797
quits1806
correlate1821
analogue1837
representant1847
homologue1848
countertype1855
homologon1871
correlative1875
vis-à-vis1900
counterpart1903
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 167 Non est similis in terra. Nis on eorðe non oðer his liche.
c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 88 Þe lord of þer inne nas non his liche.
a1450 (c1375) G. Chaucer Anelida & Arcite (Tanner 346) (1878) l. 76 Of trouth is ther non her lyche Of all the women in this worlde.
c1450 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) 71 (MED) Deth allas hath tane my lady bright And left this world without on to her leche [rhyme speche].
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lvii. 193 His lyke is not in al ye world.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Nov. 40 Her like shee has not left behinde.
1597 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas v. 65 Socrates was a man excellent [f]or humane wisedome the like to whom could not be found among many thousands of men.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. ii. 187 I shall not looke vpon his like againe.
1770 Polit. Reg. Dec. 344 When shall we see his like again?
1794 J. Trapp tr. H. Boerhaave in D. H. Stoever Life Sir C. Linnaeus v. 87 Two men, whose like will scarcely ever be found in the world.
1823 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 9 Aug. 366 I never saw, or heard of the like of this before.
1826 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 6 270 The like of which exists in no other spot on the surface of the earth.
1901 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Apr. 571 A battle that has no like in the history of the United States.
1958 J. Kesson White Bird Passes ii. 17 Well!.. Did you ever hear the like of that for cheek?
1959 A. C. Vaughan House of Double Axe iii. 33 It proved to be part of a wall, built of enormous blocks of stone. Never had he seen their like.
1995 P. McCabe Dead School (1996) 3 I never seen the like of her in all my born days, our Malachy.
(b) Implying only similarity. Now usually in and their like: = and the like at sense 2d.In early modern English also with the possessive pronoun preceded by another determiner, as any, other; cf. sense 2c.
ΚΠ
1549 J. Proctor Fal of Late Arrian sig. E.iiii Ye thus depraue the wryters tofore remembred and theire lyke.
1563 N. Ling tr. T. de Bèze Sum Holy Signes, Sacrifices & Sacraments sig. C.viiiv It is not writen that she, or any other her like, hath at any time ben permitted to minister the holy sacraments.
1589 P. Ive Pract. Fortification ii. vii. 189 in tr. R. Beccarie de Pavie Instr. Warres The north streat shalbe for Sadlers, Spurmakers, Armorers, and other their like.
1607 Bp. W. Cowper Preparatiue New Passeouer sig. Ev Hee came into the worlde to saue thee, and the like of thee.
1664 in J. Raine Depos. Castle of York (1861) 118 Hee would banish both the informer and all his like.
a1713 A. Pitcairn Assembly (1722) ii. i. 24 How shall poor Men live, when you, and the like of you, will not give us our Money.
1771 Polit. Reg. Oct. 180 Yet I, and my like, if such exist, still remain unrewarded.
1850 J. W. Carlyle Lett. II. 137 This is the best school that the like of me was ever put to.
1854 C. Dickens Hard Times ii. iv. 169 I ha' never had no fratch afore, sin ever I were born, wi' any o' my like.
1884 Cent. Mag. Jan. 337/1 Bailies, town councilors, railway share-holders and their like are always eager to destroy whatever is ancient or beautiful.
1938 C. Fullman tr. P. Thoene Mod. German Art 87 The art of such men as Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz and their like.
1995 P. Manuel in P. Manuel et al. Caribbean Currents v. 105 A Spanish-language counterpart to the mainstream, commercial Euro-American ballads of Barbra Streisand, Englebert Humperdinck, and their like.
(c) In plural. People or things of the same or a similar kind; spec. the sort of people with whom one associates or who are of the same status; one's peers.
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1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions ii. xii. sig. K.iiijv To consecrate their likes, and their superiours also.
1566 T. Heskyns Parl. Chryste iii. xxxv. f. 324 Yt should be asked whie the Proclamer and his likes refuse to folowe herin the auncient maner of the primitiue Church.
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. iv. xii. 479 A man of a barbarous blunt wit, but which did well enough among his likes [L. tales homines].
1676 J. L. New Dis. 7 These may seem strange Medicines, but not to those that truly understand the mystery of Sympathy and Antipathy, and that Diseases are cured by their Likes, as well as by their Contraries.
?1698 tr. A. Bourignon Admirable Treat. Solid Virtue xx. 170 Which serves only to maintain wickedness, and excuse the malice of their likes.
1834 D. Crockett Acct. Col. Crockett's Tour 16 I concluded to go ahead, and give him and his likes a blizzard.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess vi. 138 Pass, and mingle with your likes.
1901 H. Münsterberg Amer. Traits v. 225 Quay and Croker and their likes are tyrants without a constitutional background.
2006 M. Contini Dear Olivia (2007) 241 Although they were Italian like her, Addolorata thought they were way above her and her likes that lived in the Grassmarket.
†b. A person's partner in marriage; one's husband or wife. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > [noun] > spouse, consort, or partner
ferec975
matchOE
makec1175
spousea1200
lemanc1275
fellowc1350
likea1393
wed-ferea1400
partyc1443
espouse?c1450
bedfellow1490
yokefellow?1542
espousal1543
spouse1548
mate1549
marrow1554
paragon1557
yokemate1567
partner1577
better halfa1586
twin1592
moiety1611
copemate1631
consort1634
half-marrow1637
matrimonya1640
helpmeet1661
other half1667
helpmate1715
spousie1735
life companion1763
worse half1783
life partner1809
domestic partner1815
ball and chain1921
lover1969
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 2277 (MED) Worthi to his liche..Ther was no womman forto love.
c1450 (c1400) Sowdon of Babylon (1881) l. 44 Whan ffrith and felde wexen gaye, And every wight desirith his like.
c. Plant or animals viewed in terms of their resemblance to or the characteristics they inherit from their parents, esp. those characteristics common to the particular species, breed, or variety.
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1564 P. Moore Hope of Health i. i. f.jv All liuing creatures, should contain in theim selues soche seede, as doeth suffice to engender their like in their kinde.
1637 J. Sym Lifes Preservative against Self-killing v. 29 Every thing affects to procreate its like.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Reflect. Agric. xxi. 74 in Compl. Gard'ner Animals..do not Procreate their Like, but when they are in their Vigor.
1762 T. Smollett et al. tr. Voltaire Wks. XIII. 106 Trees which shoot out branches, and which reproduce their like from their wounds.
1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. iv. 55 Producing their like, without understanding or design.
1837 Farmers' Reg. Dec. 478/2 Its seed would not produce its like.
1916 Nat. Wool Grower Sept. 16/3 Only the most constitutionally perfect, the specimens best adapted to their environment, live to procreate their like.
2003 R. Olby in J. L. Heilbron Oxf. Compan. Hist. Mod. Sci. 508/1 The question whether hybridization yielded offspring able to reproduce their like with the constancy of species.
4.
a. Each of two things considered in respect of their likeness to each other, esp. when that likeness explains or has a specific effect on the relationship between the things. Chiefly in proverbial expressions, as like (will) to like, like draws to like, like begets like, like cures like etc.
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c1390 Vision St. Paul (Vernon) in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 253 (MED) Byndeþ hem in knucchenus forþi To brenne, lyk to licchi, Spous-brekers wiþ lechours, Rauisschers wiþ rauisschours.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 527 Evermore o good knyght woll favoure another, and lyke woll draw to lyke.
c1480 (a1400) St. Matthias 134 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 226 Lyk to lyk drawis ay.
a1500 Thewis Gud Women (Cambr. Kk.1.5) 118 in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 118 For like lufis lyke, and lyke drawis to like, and lyke joyis with the lyke.
1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni (1535) 68 b Lyke ioyned to lyke maketh one the more furious.
1581 J. Derricke Image Irelande ii. sig. Fjv (margin) Like vnto like saide the Deuill to the Collier.
1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 48 The Foxe and th' Ape..determined to seeke Their fortunes farre abroad, lyeke with his lyeke.
1652 A. Ross Arcana Microcosmi (new ed.) 237 Because the air about it is heated by the flame of the wine, therefore, as in all things like draws to like, so one flame dilates it self to enjoy the other.
1739 T. Cooke Petworth 6 As Like to Like inclines, his Judgement led Fair Charity in Person to his Bed.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Walking to Mail in Poems (new ed.) II. 49 Like breeds like, they say.
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) I. iii. ii. 61 Only like can know like.
1912 J. A. McGee in P. A. Dix Salesmanship 17 Like always begets like. If you want to get your customers' confidence, first show confidence in yourself.
1955 G. P. Chapman Dreyfus Case ii. 40 Like calls to like, and men elect to their clubs men of their own kind.
2010 Your Cat Feb. 64/3 Homoeopathy..works on the principle of ‘like cures like’.
b. Something which is similar to another; (also) an instance of similarity.
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1612 J. Speed Theatre of Empire of Great Brit. i. i. 1/1 By a certain crosse comparison, he opposeth two likes against two vnlikes, Britaine and Pontus against Egypt and Gades.
a1627 W. Sclater Funeral Serm. in 3 Serm. (1629) 2 Illustrated by a comparison of likes.
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccccxix. 395 Two Likes may be mistaken.
1724 R. Bradley New Exper. & Observ. Generation of Plants 25 I should readily come into [Dr. Blair's Opinion], if in the whole Scene of Nature I could find two Likes, but as that has not yet been discover'd, it is reasonable enough to suppose there is no such thing.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Two Voices in Poems (new ed.) II. 140 For those two likes might meet and touch.
1894 M. S. Howell Gram. Class. Arabic Lang.: Pt. I III. xi. 1318 One of the two likes is elided, with or without compensation.
1913 Field 5 July 13/1 This leaves an equal number of gametes, two likes of each kind, to mate.
1998 R. D. Lawler et al. Catholic Sexual Ethics (ed. 2) ii. 35 Communion is between two likes who are yet unlike.
†5. Likelihood, probability. Obsolete. rare.
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a1649 W. Yonge Diary (1848) 19 There is like of war between them.
6. Golf. With the. An equal number of strokes played by both players; a stroke that brings a player's score for a hole to the same as his or her opponent. Contrasted with odd n.1 3. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [noun] > types of shot or stroke
putta1754
like1790
drive1829
tee-shot1850
gobble1857
push shot1865
iron shot1870
push stroke1873
drive-off1884
slice1886
raker1888
foozle1890
hook1890
iron1890
top1890
sclaff1893
brassy shot1894
run1894
chip shot1899
chip1903
pull1903
skimmer1903
draw shot1904
brassy1906
pitch-and-run1908
windcheater1909
air shot1920
chip-in1921
explosion1924
downhiller1925
blast1927
driver1927
shank1927
socket1927
recovery1937
whiff1952
pinsplitter1961
comebacker1965
bump-and-run1981
1790 C. Jones Hoyle's Games Improved (new ed.) 290 Then B strikes A's Ball, which is called playing the Like, or equal, of their Opponents.
1807 J. Grierson Delineations St. Andrews 236 If the ball be struck into the hole at the like, or an equal number of strokes on both sides, the hole is said to be halved, and goes for nothing.
1863 Macmillan's Mag. Sept. 411/2 The Captain hookit his ba' into the Principal's Nose, and the Laird lay snug on the green at the like.
1907 M. Hezlet Ladies' Golf xii. 129 Miss Adair approached short, but laid her next about two yards from the hole in the like.
1955 R. Browning Hist. Golf xxviii. 178 When he in his turn came to play his second shot he would be playing the like—the same number of strokes as his opponent.

Phrases

P1. Phrases with prepositions. See also in like adv.
†a. by (the) like: in all likelihood, probably; (also in weaker sense) perhaps, possibly. Cf. belike adv. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1533 in tr. P. Valeriano Pro Sacerdotum Barbis f. 17 Lyke as in the sentence before, some vncleane shauer hath shauen away a worde, so by lyke, here in this pistyll of Alexander, some brayneles felowe hath added to a word. [No corresponding sentence in the Latin original.]
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 337v Harpalus (who by like had a good insight in suche matiers).
1577 R. Holinshed Chron. II. 330/2 King William..conceyued displeasure against Urbane..and alledged by the like that no..Bishop within hys Realme, should haue respect..to anye Pope.
1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 73 By like all their ceremonies bee not so auncient.
1605 R. Verstegan Restit. Decayed Intelligence iv. 89 The whyte rocks or clifs, (by lyke about Douer).
1692 J. Dunton Young-students-libr. 443/1 Several Bishops knew not even how to write their Names, so that they were forced in the Councils to make others Subscribe for them; which by-like was very common, seeing they made no difficulty to confess a thing, which should have covered them with shame.
1767 Gentleman's Mag. June 308/2 By like they don't look the arlmenicks all over, but only zee that the clipses..be put in as they should be.
†b. of (a) like: = by like at Phrases 1a. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
?1552 T. Churchyard Replicacion to Camels Obiection (single sheet) Of like you are spurblinde, or ye loke not a right.
1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 50 Of a like thai purpose to pluck Jupiter out of heaven.
1576 W. Lambarde Perambulation of Kent 190 In whiche respect (of like) he gaue to the hundreth, ye name of the same Towne.
?1611 R. Buckland Embassage from Heauen 59 Of like I had no reason to forbidde you their company, for you are prouident and discreet.
c. with like: see sense 2a.
P2. like for like.
a. As a noun phrase: something done or given in return for something of the same or a similar kind that one has received or suffered. Typically with reference to punishment by retaliation. [Probably after classical Latin par parī referre to do like for like, lit. ‘to bring equal to equal’. Compare also lex talionis n.]
ΚΠ
1534 N. Udall Floures for Latine Spekynge gathered oute of Terence f. 65 Par pari referto. Do lyke for like.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. xx. f. 167 He willeth..that the myndes of his should so much abhorre from desire of recompensing like for like [L. retaliandi], that they should soner suffer doble iniurie to be done to themselues, than desire to reacquite it.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. ii. 56 He is presently without any iudgement to haue Legem talionis, that is, like for like, inflicted vpon him.
1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes iii. lx. 296 In case of talio, or requiting like for like.
1660 H. Fletcher Perfect Politician 185 Lambert with the Right Wing of his Battel fell on the Enemy with great fierceness, giving the first Charge on the Scots Left wing; which they (not flinching a foot) manfully sustained, returning like for like.
1750 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 81/2 Shall we tamely let so desirable an opportunity slip out of our hands, of retorting like for like upon them?
1840 J. F. Cooper Pathfinder I. ix. 140 The affinities of such a character were, as a matter of course, those of like for like.
1877 J. C. Geikie Life & Words Christ II. xxxvi. 71 To requite like with like was assumed as both just and righteous.
1905 J. London War of Classes 146 It is not in the nature of present-day society for men to give like for like, the same for the same.
2000 T. J. Gorringe in A. Hastings et al. Oxf. Compan. Christian Thought 581/1 The lex talionis (retaliation based on like for like) is most probably an attempt to limit indiscriminate revenge.
b. As an adverbial phrase: in return for something of the same or a similar kind that one has suffered, given, or received; esp. in a retaliatory manner.
ΚΠ
1616 B. Parsons Magistrates Charter 23 As a man hath done & deserued, so it should be done to him, like for like.
1871 G. Meredith in Fortn. Rev. Jan. 88 The Gods alone Remember everlastingly: they strike Remorselessly, and ever like for like.
1881 Gospel Herald 49 332/2 The necessity of paying them back, like for like!
1999 M. Andic in R. L. Perkins Internat. Kierkegaard Comm. XVI. i. 26 You hand on to others what you receive from God, and receive from God what you give to them, like for like.
2007 T. Brooks in W. Irwin Metallica & Philos. xi. 130 With murderers, it's clear. We can punish them like for like—we can execute them.
c. attributive. Usually in form like-for-like.
(a) Based on or deriving from a fundamental similarity between the actions or objects in question.
ΚΠ
1914 Spectator & Methodist Chron. (Melbourne) 18 Dec. 1974/3 Six German residents of New Britain, who brutally assaulted the chairman of our mission,..received a like for like punishment by being flogged at the orders of the military commandant.
1952 Railway Gaz. 7 Mar. 256/1 The excess of like-for-like replacement cost over original cost.
1972 Irish Times 3 Mar. 21/2 In the like-for-like comparison, the cost of servicing an acre of land has increased 100%.
1985 J. Lowe Diary 11 Feb. in J. Symcox 1984–5 Miners' Strike in Nottinghamshire (2011) 158 Even when cars have been vandalised, anger has never spilled over into like-for-like retaliation or violence.
2009 P. Lynch Wildlife & Conservation Volunteering iii. 29 Comparing organisations on the basis of cost is less effective than other methods because it is rare to find projects that can be matched on an exact like-for-like basis.
(b) Business. Designating the sales of a company when compared between different years, taking into account only activities which were in effect in both years.
ΚΠ
1986 PR Newswire (Nexis) 30 July Like-for-like sales growth was an impressive 21.9 percent in spite of very low inflation and very intense competition.
1993 Cookson Group Ann. Rep. 1992 1 Turnover decreased in 1992 by 5% from £1,305m to £1.237m, but like-for-like turnover, adjusting for acquisitions, disposals and exchange rate movements, increased by some 3%.
2013 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 3 Jan. 3 The company's like-for-like sales figure excludes the four new shops opened in 2012 but includes online sales.
P3. colloquial. the likes of: such a person or thing as (that specified); people or things like. Now typically in depreciative contexts, expressing dismay, annoyance, etc., at the person (or object) in question.
ΚΠ
1787 Minor 171 Never more presume for to speak to the likes of me.
1847 H. Melville Omoo lxxvi. 295 Steer clear of the likes of this ballyhoo of blazes as long as ye live.
1872 R. Browning in S. Orr Life & Lett. R. Browning (1891) 292 The second edition is in the press,..2,500 in five months is a good sale for the likes of me.
1894 G. Du Maurier Trilby (1895) 210 Are there no harems still left in Stamboul for the likes of thee to sweep and clean?
1936 C. Brooks Jrnl. 18–19 Jan. (1998) 150 The severe illness of a King means to the likes of us anxiety and care of which the normal citizen has no glimpse.
1972 R. Galton & A. Simpson Loathe Story in Steptoe & Son (BBC TV script) 28 Her mother doesn't like me. She don't want to see her daughter get tied up with the likes of me.
1982 P. Redmond Brookside (Mersey TV transmission script) (O.E.D. Archive) Episode 5. 47 The likes of Kinsella just enjoy putting the knife in.
2002 J. McGahern That they may face Rising Sun (2003) 13 The decenter you treat the likes of him the more they'll walk all over you.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

liken.2

Brit. /lʌɪk/, U.S. /laɪk/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: like v.1
Etymology: < like v.1 Compare earlier liking n.1Compare the second element of Old English self-līce self-love (see self-liking n.).
†1. Pleasure, liking; at one's like(s): at one's pleasure or liking. Cf. liking n.1 Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > [noun]
willeOE
hearteOE
i-willc888
self-willeOE
intent?c1225
device1303
couragec1320
talentc1325
greec1330
voluntyc1330
fantasyc1374
likinga1375
disposingc1380
pleasancea1382
affectionc1390
wish1390
disposition1393
affecta1398
likea1400
lista1400
pleasingc1400
emplesance1424
pleasurec1425
well-willingc1443
notiona1450
mindc1450
fancy1465
empleseur1473
hest?a1513
plighta1535
inclination1541
cue1567
month's mind1580
disposedness1583
leaning1587
humour1595
wouldings1613
beneplacit1643
wouldingness1645
vergency1649
bene-placiture1662
good liking1690
draught1758
tida1774
inkling1787
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 2997 What haue I done aȝeyn þi like [Fairf. þe to myslike].
1614 S. Latham Falconry i. xvi. 75 Shee may doe all things at her owne likes.
1689 Irish Hudibras 120 A Man,..That cou'd a Bullet, at his like, Anabaptize into a Pike.
2. With of. A liking of or approval for something or someone. Cf. liking n.1
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > [noun]
loveeOE
well-likinglOE
favoura1340
liking1340
greea1400
study?c1400
benevolence1423
lustc1430
carec1540
goût1586
like1589
infection1600
predilection1626
notion1789
grá1833
shindy1855
hard-on1949
1589 T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Eiiv Being wonne to haue a fauourable like of Poets wanton lines.
1694 Proposals National Reformation of Manners 8 They..use all their Endeavour to corrupt the Age wherein they live, into a like of and compliance with all these Wickednesses.
1915 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 1 609 Mr. Worcester repeatedly voices his like of and confidence in the Filipino people. He scorns and excoriates the Filipino politicians.
1993 E. Shinotsuka in J. Hunter Japanese Women Working (1996) v. 173 The most widely-expressed motive for working was a like of helping and looking after people.
3. A feeling of regard, preference, or affection for something or someone; a predilection. Chiefly in plural, esp. in likes and dislikes. Also as a mass noun.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > [noun] > particular liking or partiality
partiality?a1439
respect1528
respecting1574
like1612
peculiarity1687
feeling1750
softness1873
1612 J. Speed Theatre of Empire of Great Brit. x. i. 891/2 It was controuersed what forraine princes shold be made priuy to these their purposes; for..to assay their likes or dislikes, would proue dangerous.
1669 R. Allestree 18 Serm. v. 83 The Spirit and Flesh of Man by their so strait alliance and perpetual converse, may grow to have the same likes and dislikes.
?1735 B. Godfrey Miscellanea vere Utilia iii. 132 He has his likes and dislikes as well as we.
1775 J. Trusler Chesterfield's Princ. Politeness 14 Their little wants and whims, their likes and dislikes, and even their impertinences, are particularly attended to and flattered.
1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) II. 495/2 She used to say, ‘It was not her likes, but her husband's, or she'd have had me back.’
1889 F. M. Crawford Greifenstein III. xxii. 41 I do not care a straw for his like or dislike.
1934 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Grey Granite i. 55 At that she'd unshrivelled like a weed in the rain, peeking and chittering in your bedroom chair all about herself and her life and her likes.
1965 T. Nelson Torture of Mothers i. 8 The police don't have no like for us.
2005 Fortune Apr. 84/1 The old ones, ah! We knew their foibles, their likes and dislikes.
4. In the context of social media: an expression of approval or support made by clicking on a particular icon.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > [noun] > expression of approval
suffrage1566
vote1608
seal of approval1833
accolade1852
back-pat1894
nod1924
nice one1970
like2009
2009 @RuleOfThum 21 Jan. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) FriendFeed should implement a notifications tab ala Facebook at the bottom for any ‘likes’ or new comments.
2011 New Yorker 16 May 68/1 The Refresh campaign..got three and a half million ‘likes’ on Pepsi's Facebook page.
2014 T. Payton & T. Claypoole Privacy in Age of Big Data 85 Your likes on Facebook say so much about you.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

likeadj.adv.conj.prep.

Brit. /lʌɪk/, U.S. /laɪk/
Forms:

α. Old English (rare)–early Middle English lic, early Middle English liih, Middle English lech, Middle English leche, Middle English licchi, Middle English liche, Middle English lichi, Middle English lych, Middle English lyche, Middle English lychy, Middle English–1500s lich (archaic in later use), 1500s litche.

β. Middle English lek, Middle English lic, Middle English lick, Middle English liek, Middle English liik, Middle English liike, Middle English lijc, Middle English lijk, Middle English lijke, Middle English lyce, Middle English lycke, Middle English lyek, Middle English–1500s leke, Middle English–1500s lyke, Middle English–1600s licke, Middle English–1600s lyk, Middle English 1600s–1700s lik, Middle English– like, 1500s leeke, 1500s leike, 1500s lieke, 1500s lyck, 1500s lyeke, 1600s leek; English regional 1800s lauk (Yorkshire), 1800s lic (East Anglian), 1800s lick (Yorkshire and Devon), 1800s lik (Yorkshire and Devon), 1800s loike (northern and midlands), 1800s–1900s leyke (northern), 1800s– leike (Cumberland), 1900s lahk (Yorkshire); Scottish pre-1700 layk, pre-1700 leik, pre-1700 liek, pre-1700 liyk, pre-1700 lyck, pre-1700 lycke, pre-1700 lyek, pre-1700 lyik, pre-1700 lyike, pre-1700 lyk, pre-1700 1700s lick, pre-1700 1700s–1800s lyke, pre-1700 1700s– lik, pre-1700 1700s– like, pre-1700 1800s leike, 1800s leak, 1800s leck (Caithness), 1800s leyke, 1800s– laek (chiefly Shetland), 1800s– lek (Caithness and Shetland), 1900s loike (Aberdeenshire); Irish English (chiefly northern) 1800s leke, 1800s– lake, 1800s– lick (Wexford), 1900s– leck, 1900s– lik; Manx English 1800s– lek; U.S. regional (chiefly southern and in African-American usage) 1700s loike, 1800s lack, 1900s– lak, 1900s– lock.

γ. Middle English leyge (Wiltshire, perhaps transmission error), Middle English lyge (Wiltshire, perhaps transmission error), 1800s lig (English regional (Somerset)).

Comparative.

α. early Middle English licchere, Middle English lechore, Middle English lechoure, Middle English licher, Middle English lichyr.

β. Middle English licker, Middle English lickor, Middle English likker, Middle English likkere, Middle English likkir, Middle English lyckore, Middle English lykar, Middle English lykker, Middle English–1600s lyker, 1500s– liker; Scottish pre-1700 lykar, pre-1700 lykare, pre-1700 lyker, pre-1700 1700s– liker, 1800s likker, 1900s– leker.

Superlative. Middle English lickes, Middle English lickest, Middle English likeste, Middle English–1500s likkest, Middle English–1800s likest, 1500s–1600s lykest; Scottish pre-1700 likkest, pre-1700 lykast, pre-1700 lykest, 1700s–1800s likest; N.E.D. (1902) also records a form Middle English lykest.
Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Partly a borrowing from early Scandinavian. Etymon: ylike adj.
Etymology: Partly aphetic < ylike adj., and partly < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic líkr , Old Swedish liker (Swedish lik ), Danish ligh , lyk (Danish lig )), aphetic < the early Scandinavian word reflected by Old Icelandic glíkr (see ylike adj.). Compare Middle Low German līk . Compare earlier anlike adj. With use as adverb compare Old Icelandic líka , Old Swedish lika , Middle Low German līke . Compare earlier ylike adv. and also likely adv.Form history. For discussion of forms see ylike adj. Some of the short vowel forms may show levelling on the basis of the comparative, superlative, or other inflected forms; compare discussion at ylike adj. Compare also the β. forms at likeness n. The aphetic form in quot. OE at sense A. 1a(a) is unlikely to represent Ælfric’s own usage (compare the variant reading), but more probably shows a form attributable to the scribe; compare early forms of likeness n. Comparative and superlative forms. The comparative and superlative forms with short vowel (e.g. licchere, likker, likkest) probably reflect phonological shortenings; it is possible that they instead show separate aphetic formations < the respective comparative and superlative forms of ylike adj. (compare discussion at that entry). Inflected comparative and superlative forms are now disused in standard British and North American English, but the comparative survives in some regional varieties. Notes on prepositional uses. In addition to the senses included in Branch D., modern dictionaries typically interpret a number of other uses of like as prepositional. Principal among these are: (i) ‘similar to, bearing a resemblance to’ (sense A. 1a(a)), (ii) ‘in the manner of’ (sense B. 1a), and (iii) ‘characteristic of’ (sense A. 1d). The meanings ‘indicating the likelihood of’ and ‘disposed or inclined to’ are often inferred from, respectively, the uses set out in sense A. 6a and the phrase to feel like (see feel v. Phrases 6b). Idiomatic uses with what , that , or this (see sense A. 1c, Phrases 6f) are also commonly presented as a preposition with a pronominal object rather than an adjective (or adverb) with a pronominal complement. Recognition of some or all of these uses as prepositions is seen in the late 19th cent.; for example, both Cent. Dict. (1889) and Webster's Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. (1890) record that uses they enter as adverbs could equally be interpreted as prepositions. Among modern grammars, both R. Quirk et al. Comprehensive Gram. Eng. Lang. (1985) (see especially §9.4) and R. Huddleston & G. K. Pullum Cambr. Gram. Eng. Lang. (2002) (see §§7.2.2, 13.5.6) treat these uses mainly as prepositional, while recognizing the adjectival or adjective-like nature of the uses covered at senses A. 1a(a) and A. 6a. Two factors underlie the historical interpretation of these uses as originally adjectival (and subsequently also adverbial), rather than prepositional. Firstly, like is freely used in the comparative and superlative, and is also gradable, from at least the 14th cent. to the present day (see, e.g., quots. c1325 at sense A. 1a(a), 1709 at sense A. 1d, 1988 at sense B. 1a(a)). Secondly, use of like with a noun complement is paralleled by use with a prepositional phrase, usually introduced by to (see senses A. 1a(b), B. 1b, B. 3a). Although this latter construction has become much rarer and dated or archaic in modern English, it is not unusual before the late 19th cent. to find noun phrase and prepositional phrase complements of like used in coordination, especially in comparative statements (see, e.g., quots. ?1520, a1616, 1863 at sense A. 1a(a)). On both these counts, senses D. 1, D. 2 are distinguished from earlier uses: neither is susceptible to use in the comparative or superlative; neither has been found with a prepositional phrase as complement. See also sense B. 1a(b), where examples which are comparative, superlative, or graded, or which have a prepositional phrase as complement are found only rarely, especially after the 17th cent. Almost all modern examples in this sense are straightforwardly interpretable as prepositions. All the senses in which adverbial use comes to be better (or equally well) interpreted as prepositional developed during the period between the mid 16th and late 17th centuries, as did the the use of the conjunction in a preposition-like way (see sense C. 1e), together with the general fading away of the use of the adverb with a complement introduced by to. It seems likely, therefore, that the use of like as a preposition emerged in this period and should not be dated earlier.
A. adj.
I. Similar, resembling, alike.
1.
a. Of similar or identical shape, size, colour, character, etc., to something else; having the same or comparable characteristics or qualities as some other person or thing; similar; resembling; analogous.In some negative phrases, e.g. there is none like, nothing like (see, e.g. quots. 1563 at sense A. 1a(b), 1680 at sense A. 1a(a)), there is the implication of being unequalled rather than of a mere lack of resemblance, as if the sense were ‘so good or wonderful as’; cf. like n.1 3a(a).
(a) In predicative use, with a noun or noun phrase as complement. In Old English with dative.Often analysed as a preposition: see etymology note.Up to the early 16th cent., often with the complement preceding like (e.g. quots. c1175, 1508).In cases where the noun phrase consists of a pronoun indicating something of same kind as the noun modified by like and a relative clause (e.g. quot. 1598), now also with ellipsis of both the pronoun and the relative pronoun introducing the clause (e.g. quot. 1940).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective]
ylikeeOE
likeOE
anlikeOE
accordanta1325
of a (also one) mouldc1330
kindred1340
lichy1370
likelyc1384
alikea1393
ontinkela1400
evenly?c1400
similable?a1440
semble1449
of a sort1463
seemable1501
uniform1548
resembled1553
self-like1556
like-natured1566
resembling1573
kindlike1579
of the same, that, every, etc. feather1581
resemblant1581
marrow1585
similar1586
like-seeming1590
twin-like1599
connatural1601
similary1610
semblativea1616
otherlike1620
like-shaped1640
connate1641
homogeneous1641
consimilar1645
congenerous1646
resemblancing1652
congeniousa1656
congenerate1657
equaliform1660
congenial1669
similitive1678
symbolizant1685
synonymous1690
of akin1723
consimilary1736
like-sized1742
cogeneric1777
alike as a row of pins1785
congenerica1834
Siamese1833
congener1867
lak1881
sorty1885
homoeomorphic1902
homogenized1958
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 332 An þæra feower nytena wæs gesewen swilce mannes ansyn, þæt oðer wæs lic [OE Corpus Cambr. 198 gelic] anre leon hiwe, and þæt þridde stod anum styrce gelic.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 3572 Hire sune wass himm lic O fele kinne wise.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 5680 No licchere is broþer him nas þane wolf is a lomb.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Squire's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 54 In this world ne was ther noon it liche.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 131 Lymons þat is a manere of fruyt lych smale pesen.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 100 Torre was nat lyke hym nother in shappe ne in countenaunce.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. bii Thare is na leid on life of lordschip hym like.
?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth lvi. f. 80v More lyke a skirmysshe among brygandes and rouers than to any appoynted or ordred batell.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. lxxxiiii The Parisians..like the Wethercocke be variable and inconstaunt.
1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies i. xxxi. 60/1 When they drinke they haue certaine pots made of blacke earth very fine and thin, much like those that we vse in Holland for flower pottes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) iii. i. 33 Fooles are as like husbands, as Pilchers are to Herrings. View more context for this quotation
1680 P. Belon tr. S. Brémond Pilgrim 165 In this world there's nothing like having Companions in our afflictions.
1684 tr. T. Bonet Guide Pract. Physician xviii. 647 The unskilfulness of the Dissector, who was liker a Butcher than an Anatomist.
1710 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 25 Oct. (1948) I. 69 Addison's sister is a sort of a wit, very like him.
1762 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry I. 39 A great deal of the marle in the north country runs much upon the loam; but that in Sussex is more like fuller's earth.
1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity I. i. 93 There was nothing like it in the philosophy of Plato.
1846 Colonial Mag. 9 20 The fruit should be gathered in when in a blood-ripe state, to all appearance like cherries.
1854 D. Brewster More Worlds xv. 226 The fixed stars are like our sun in every point in which it is possible to compare them.
1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers I. ii. 21 Feyther's liker me, and we talk a deal o' rubble; but mother's words are liker to hewn stone.
1905 D. S. Jordan Guide Study of Fishes II. xvii. 272 Most like the true mackerel are the ‘leather-jackets’, or ‘runners’.
1940 D. Powell Angels on Toast vii. 91 Dad wanting me to bring him over an Uncle Sam suit, like the Americans wear.
1943 C. Beaton Diary in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xiii. 110 Isabel never relaxes—she is like a peahen, with the over-nervousness of a greyhound.
1979 R. Stow Visitants iii. 144 I looked down into his old face, which was like a lizard's.
2015 Church Times 17 Apr. 3/3 Politicians are like babies' nappies—they should be changed often, for the same reason.
(b) With complement introduced by to (also unto, †till, †toward). Also with †as, †of, †with. Now archaic.Usually in predicative use, but occasionally (now rarely) attributive.Up to the early 16th cent., often with the complement preceding like (e.g. quots. a1400, c1503); cf. the analogous word order in sense A. 1a(a) during the same period.
ΚΠ
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 7931 Þeȝȝre sang iss lic wiþþ wop.
a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 10 (MED) Þi luue sone uprisinge was selli liik to his birdinge.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Exod. iv. 7 Draw aȝeyn he saiþ þe honde: in to þin bosom, he aȝeyndrewȝ, & brouȝte it forþ eftsones: & it was lyke to [a1425 Corpus Oxf. lijk vnto, L.V. lijc] þe toþer flesch.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 9524 And algat til his fader like [Gött. of his fader liche, Trin. Cambr. his fadir liche].
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 245 (MED) Þe wille of God mut nedis be good, licke to þe Fadir of heven.
a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) l. 4325 He hadde a gret hedde leyge to a gret blok.
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) II. lf. 250 He was the glorye of the men. Ther was neuer to hym none lyke.
c1503 Beuys of Southhamptowne (Pynson) sig. L.v In pany nor in hethenesse. Is none to the lyke in doughtynesse.
?1518 A. Barclay Fyfte Eglog sig. Cij What is more folysshe, or lyker to madnesse Than to spend the lyfe, for glory and rychesse.
1563 Loe here Pearle (single sheet) (Oh Princely Dame,) there is none like to thee.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. xxxviii. 314 It is in face like to a monkie.
1611 Bible (King James) Job v. 26 Wee also are men of like passions with you. View more context for this quotation
1670 R. Baxter Cure Church-div. 238 You would shew yourselves much liker to God who is love, and unliker to Satan the accuser.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. iv. 72 A State of Trial,..analogous, or like to our moral or religious Trial.
1767 H. Glasse Art of Cookery (new ed.) App. 380 Dried herring..should be steeped the like time as the whiting, in small beer.
1819 P. B. Shelley Cenci v. iii. 97 Sweet sleep, were death like to thee.
1859 D. Masson Brit. Novelists ii. 94 Swift..the likest author we have to Rabelais.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Ess. 2nd Ser. 97 An old Greek was a being of like passions with a modern Englishman.
1903 A. Austin Flodden Field i. 26 Oh, how slow! An hour is longer than I thought, its tick, Like to a sickly and enfeebled pulse.
2000 J. M. Todd tr. A. Besançon Forbidden Image i. 42 When the subject at hand is the ‘creative’ artist like unto the gods, they remember Aristotle.
b. Similar to that or those of.
†(a) With complement introduced by to (also as). Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 18408 Quat ert þou þat es here, þat has to theif so like a chere?
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 142 A faire beste, wele dappled, of þe height of a grete stede or hier; and his nekk es xx. cubites lang, and his crupoun and his taile er lyk to a hert.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxv. 325 The Fader voyce, oure myrthes to amende, Was made to me lyke as a man.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iv. xvi. 470 His seede is lyke to wheat.
1600 Abp. G. Abbot Expos. Prophet Ionah iv. 82 His state was like to Achan: he cannot escape the iudgement, which is coming toward him.
(b) With noun as complement.Use of sense A. 1a(a) with an elliptical genitive (see, e.g., quot. 1979 at sense A. 1a(a)) is more usual in modern English.
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?1530 Dialoges Creatures Moralysed lxix. sig. X.ivv For she hath a face lyke an asse, and her body is lyke a swan.
1650 H. Holland Expos. Comm. Revelation xvii. 128 Her attire is like a Queen as she boasts her self to be.
1777 R. B. Sheridan Governess ii. 16 Her teeth are even, and whiter and better enamelled than elephant's—and her voice is like a Virginian nightingale.
1890 E. A. Freeman in W. R. W. Stephens Life & Lett. E. A. Freeman (1895) II. 414 His domestic arrangements..are rather like a steamer.
1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door iii The bent and heather of the Cheviots were like my domestic hills.
2007 J. Blank Almost Home 101 My ears are like a rabbit.
c. Used in questions asked about the characteristics or nature of someone or something. Frequently with a pronoun, as what is he (she, it, etc.) like? (see also Phrases 6g). Cf. what-like adj.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 80 I thinke not on my father, And these great teares grace his remembrance moreThen those I shed for him. What was he like? I haue forgott him. View more context for this quotation
1674 J. Josselyn Acct. Two Voy. 133 We askt them what he was like, they said all wone Englishman, clothed with hat and coat, shooes and stockings, &c.
1775 J. Howie Biographia Scoticana 607 When the duke asked his man, What he was like? he told him, He was a little man, squint-eyed, and of a very fierce aspect.
1878 C. Patmore Amelia 96 She ask'd what Millicent was like.
1899 N. Newnham-Davis Dinners & Diners 194 I found myself wondering what an infant incubator could be like.
1951 M. Kennedy Lucy Carmichael ii. i. 73 Pray Bess, what was he like? Oh, says Bess, her eyes popping, he's terrific!
2001 Canberra Times (Nexis) 15 Jan. a15 What will the human of the future be like?
d. With pronoun, noun, or noun phrase as complement. Characteristic or typical of; such as one might expect from. Frequently with anticipatory it as subject and followed by a verb (esp. infinitive) phrase.Often analysed as a preposition: see etymology note.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > [adjective] > as expected from
likea1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iv. ii. l. 141 It may be heard at Court, that such as wee Caue heere, hunt heere, are Out-lawes, and in time May make some stronger head, the which he hearing, (As it is like him) might breake out, and sweare Heel'd fetch vs in. View more context for this quotation
1678 tr. A. de Courtin Rules Civility (rev. ed.) xi. 140 That would be liker a Drunkard than a Gentleman.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 6. ⁋1 She is so well known to have no Passion, but Self-love..; that now upon any Occasion, they only cry, 'Tis her Way, and, That's so like her, without further Reflection.
1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 8 Sept. (1948) I. 354 It is like your Irish politeness, raffling for tea-kettles.
1760 J. Bellamy Wisdom of God in Permission of Sin Vindicated 66 Why should it be thought unlikely, when it would be just like God to do it?
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxvii. 91 It would be like his impudence..to dare to think of such a thing!
1872 Sunday Mag. 597/1 It 'ud ha' been more like him to tell his father what a duffer he was.
1891 W. Black Stand Fast, Craig-Royston! vi ‘Come, come, aunt,’ said he, ‘it isn't like you to niggle about nothing.’
a1933 J. Galsworthy End of Chapter (1934) ii. xxxiv. 569 How like Wilfrid to keep one on tenterhooks!
1952 E. Grierson Reputation for Song ii. 11 This was so like Laura, with whom a hand she could not play was a hand wasted.
2011 T. Ronald Becoming Nancy (2012) xiv. 196 It's not like you to be spiteful, and it's not that poor girl's fault, is it?
2. Of two or more people or things: similar to one another; = alike adj. 1a. Chiefly in predicative use, now esp. in as like as.Formerly sometimes followed by of (see of prep. 44).as like as two peas: see pea n.2 Phrases 1. as like as milk to milk: see milk n.1 and adj. Phrases 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective] > like each other
likec1330
uniform1549
of one (or a) scantling1551
resemblinga1586
both-like1629
c1330 (?a1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) p. 542 (MED) On Gij y þenke when ichim se..Ich wald sigge þat he it were, So liche þai ben of siȝt.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 14 ij lymes..þat ben lich in complexioun.
c1480 (a1400) St. Andrew 1038 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 93 All are lyk, and ȝet..In ilke face..men fyndis diuersyte.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) c. sig. D*ii They wer al goodly persones and moche lyke of stature.
1604 H. Jacob Reasons 9 Al these..are exceeding divers and no way like.
a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 355 The two letters of b and m being in manuscripts very like.
1757 R. Griffith & E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances I. cxix. 222 I always looked on them as twin Sisters, and so very like, that it was difficult to know one from t'other.
1778 W. Cookworthy & T. Hartley tr. E. Swedenborg Treat. Heaven & Hell 282 After their arrival in those two different kingdoms, they no more see or know one another, unless they are of like minds and affections.
1832 Ld. Tennyson Dream Fair Women lxxvii, in Poems (new ed.) 141 No two dreams are like.
1872 W. Bagehot Physics & Politics i. 21 A nation means a like body of men, because of that likeness capable of acting together.
1876 W. S. Jevons Logic 9 Things which seem to be like may be different.
1914 G. H. Shull in Zeitschrift f. Induktive Abstammungs- u. Vererbungslehre 12 120 Characters so like that they can not be distinguished from one another.
1953 Times of India 21 June 8/8 They are supposed to be as like as two pins.
2015 O. Sacks On Move 284 A fish shop on Lydig Avenue run by two Sicilian brothers who were as like as twins.
3. Chiefly attributive. Similar or identical to something of the same kind previously mentioned or implied.In early modern English frequently with the and often preceded by a quantifier, e.g. any the like, many the like; cf. like n.1 2b, 2c.such a like: see such adj. and pron. 29d. in like manner: see manner n. 9b. in like sort: see sort n.2 21a. in like wise: see in like wise adv.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Job xvi. 4 I myȝte lic thingis [L. similia] of ȝou speken.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6382 Of honi it had likest sauur [Gött. lickest, Fairf. likkest].
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 19 For þe honor of God, and profit of himsilf, and of þe peple, wiþ mani final leful leke causis.
a1500 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Cambr.) l. 801 In lyke case was þe wylde bore.
?1530 Dialoges Creatures Moralysed xciv. sig. II.iiv And a lyke tale is tolde of an agid man that was sustayned in all thinges by his doughter.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. vii. sig. Ii4v For both to be and seeme to him was labor lich.
1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. to Rdr. sig. A4 Wee shall finde many the like examples of such kind, or rather vnkind acceptance.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. iii. 10 Like events will follow like actions.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 69. ¶5 Hips and Haws, Acorns and Pig-Nutts, with other Delicacies of the like Nature.
1775 R. Chandler Trav. Asia Minor xxxv. 124 The other remains are perhaps of the arsenals, and of the public treasury, the prison, and the like buildings.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind i. 5 The like working of men's minds under like conditions.
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 162 They cause disease and poverty and other like evils.
1932 J. P. Pearson Railways & Scenery III. 1894 He advised me to adopt a like procedure.
1971 J. Song Pathol. Sickle Cell Dis. xviii. 356 Many individuals present hypochlorhydric states of a like degree.
2013 M. J. Rohrbough Rush to Gold xii. 199 As the number of miners grew.., friction in the mining camps grew in like proportion.
4. Mathematics.
†a. Of two or more geometric figures: = similar adj. 3a. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [adjective] > relationship between > equal or similar
like1557
isoperimetral1625
similar1692
isoperimetrical1706
identical1806
homologous1863
homological1885
perspective1885
homothetic1886
trigraphic1895
1557 R. Record Whetstone of Witte sig. Di When the sides of one plat forme, beareth like proportion together as the sides of any other flatte forme of the same kinde doeth, then are those formes called like flattes.
1660 tr. I. Barrow Euclide's Elements vi. 118 If in a triangle FBE there be drawn AC a parallel to one side FE, the triangle ABC shall be like to the whole FBE.
1730 Present State Republick Lett. 5 195 The equation of lines is principally founded upon the 47th Prop. of 1st Book of Euclid, and originally upon like triangles. So much for the Elementary Theorems.
1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia at Like figures All like figures have their homologous lines in the same ratio.
b. Of the signs of two or more numbers or terms of a mathematical expression: identical with respect to being either positive or negative.
ΚΠ
1562 H. Baker Well Sprynge Sci. iii. xiv. f. 157 Yf both the errours haue lyke sygnes, then must the diuidend and the diuisor be made by substraction.
1685 J. Hawkins Cocker's Decimal Arithm. iii. ii. 279 When the quantities given to be added are alike, and have like signs, collect the numbers prefixed to each quantity into one sum.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Like Signs, are when both are Affirmative, or both Negative..Thus + 16 c and + 4 c, have like Signs.
1769 J. Muller New Syst. Math. Introd. p. xi When many like numbers, with different signs, are to be added, it will be convenient to add first all those with like signs.
1846 J. Narrien Analyt. Geom. ii. 43 When a and b have like signs, the curve is an ellipse.
1873 E. Olney University Algebra iii. 253 Notice that all the corresponding coefficients must have like signs or all unlike signs.
1909 School Rev. 17 111 He dimly remembers a rule ‘Like signs give plus, unlike signs give minus’.
1969 Jrnl. Marketing Res. 6 89/1 By substituting ranks for the original differences and adding those with like signs, we may obtain a statistic T with a known distribution.
2006 J. Derbyshire Unknown Quantity Introd. 9 Like signs give a positive; unlike signs give a negative.
c. Of two or more terms of a mathematical expression: consisting of the same variables raised to the same powers.
ΚΠ
1694 R. Sault New Treat. Algebra 4 in W. Leybourn Pleasure with Profit Like Quantities usually happen to stand over one another, for the greater conveniency of Addition.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Like Quantities (in Algebra), such as are expressed by the same Letters, equally repeated in each Quantity. Thus 2a and 3a, 6dd and 4dd, are like Quantities.
1776 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 66 491 The several terms of the one [series] are found from the like terms of the other.
1817 P. Lynch Easy Introd. Pract. Astron. iii. 243 When with like signs like quantities are had, We first their coefficient numbers add.
1863 I. Todhunter Algebra for Beginners iv. 14 The simplifying of expressions by collecting like terms is the essential part of the processes of Addition and Subtraction in Algebra.
1922 Math. Teacher 15 414 To add polynomials we write like terms in the same column and add these terms, writing their sums as a polynomial.
1983 J. G. Anderson Techn. Shop Math. (ed. 2) vi. 149 Care must be used in setting down the individual products in their proper vertical columns of like terms.
2010 V. Raines Davis's Basic Math Rev. for Nurses v. 128 When you add or subtract like terms, change only the coefficient (the number in front of the variable). The variable remains the same.
5. Of a portrait or similar image: bearing a faithful resemblance to the subject. Now somewhat archaic.Only in predicative use in later modern English.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > painting according to subject > [adjective] > portrait-painting > bearing faithful resemblance
like1561
semblant1714
1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer iv. sig. Pp.ii A muche more liker image of God [It. molto più simile imagine di Dio] are those good Princis that loue and woorshippe him.
1591 E. Spenser Teares of Muses in Complaints 201 All these, and all that els the Comick Stage With seasoned wit and goodly pleasaunce graced, By which mans life in his likest image Was limned forth.
1662 Godfridus' Knowl. Things Vnknowne (new ed.) Advt. of Bks. sig. q8v There is a Picture of King Charles the Second on Horseback, with Armour, Drums, Trophies, &c. the likest Picture yet extant.
?1706 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft: 2nd Pt. Pref. sig. A2 Its own Picture drawn so very like, that it has not Patience to behold its own Physiognomy.
1756 F. Brooke Old Maid No. 36. 215 I have myself seen the camps at Clapham, and in Hydepark, and must own my Correspondent's picture of the last to be like.
1775 Duke of Richmond in Burke Corr. (1844) II. 87 I believe you will think it a good and a like portrait when you see it.
1828 W. Scott Jrnl. 2 Feb. (1941) 183 My own portrait is like, but I think too broad about the jowls.
1850 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 203 I got your photograph at last: it is a beastly thing: not a bit like.
1928 R. Fry Let. 6 Apr. (1972) II. 623 My portrait of Simm is staggeringly like: they're all rather astonished.
1967 A. Carter Magic Toyshop iii. 64 ‘Who painted the dog's picture?’ ‘I did.’ ‘It—it's very like.’
1997 Poetry Oct. 39 His widow has his portrait, very like, Which ought to be engraved.
6.
a. Giving an indication of; showing a likelihood or probability of. Only in predicative use with certain verbs (chiefly look, sound), with gerund, verbal noun, or noun as complement; earliest, and most commonly, in to look like (see look v. Phrases 2a(b)). Cf. also feel v. Phrases 6b.Often analysed as a preposition: see note at sense D. Apparently a further development of the use of to look like with the sense ‘to seem to be’ rather than merely ‘to resemble’.
ΚΠ
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E3 Thou look'st not like deceipt, do not deceiue me. View more context for this quotation
1896 J. Ashby-Sterry Tale of Thames v. 52 It seems very like rain... I must try and get down to Castle Eaton before the storm comes on.
1932 Coast Artillery Jrnl. 75 61/1 ‘Well,’ the colonel said, ‘it sounds like a promising idea.’
1954 R. Wright Black Power xxxvi. 279 Weather broods over the city; always it feels like rain, looks like rain, smells like rain.
2012 Independent 27 June 21/1 If the eurozone really looks like breaking up,..then the poor old German taxpayers will be made to stump up.
†b. In the same sense, in predicative use with to be. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1841 Sporting Rev. May 338 ‘It is like rain, Donald,’ we observed, as a cloud as black as pitch threatened us from the adjoining summit of Ben Nevis.
1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets III. 2 The Forty Colonies..are all pretty like rebelling just now.
†7. Golf. Having played the same number of strokes for a hole or round. Cf. like as they (also we) lie at Phrases 7. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1887 D. Donaldson Jamieson's Sc. Dict. Suppl. (at cited word) When both parties have played the same number of strokes they are said to be like.
II. Appropriate, suitable.
8. In predicative use with complement: apt, befitting, appropriate. In later use Scottish, Irish English (northern), and English regional (northern), only in the comparative.With a prepositional phrase, a pronoun (usually followed by an infinitive), or an if-clause as complement.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > suitability or appropriateness > [adjective]
goodeOE
rightOE
queemlOE
belonglOE
behovingc1175
limplyc1200
tidefula1300
avenantc1300
mackc1330
worthy1340
hemea1350
convenientc1374
seemlya1375
shapelyc1374
ablea1382
cordant1382
meetc1385
accordable1386
accordinga1387
appurtenantc1386
pertinentc1390
accordanta1393
likea1393
setea1400
throa1400
agreeablec1425
habilec1425
suitly1426
competentc1430
suiting1431
fitc1440
proportionablec1443
justc1450
congruent?a1475
cordinga1475
congruec1475
afferant1480
belonging1483
cordable1485
hovable1508
attainanta1513
accommodate1525
agreeing1533
respondent1533
opportunate?1541
appropriate1544
commode1549
familiar1553
apt1563
pliant1565
liable1570
sortly1570
competible1586
sortable1586
fitty1589
accommodable1592
congruable1603
affining1606
feated1606
suity1607
reputable1611
suited1613
idoneousa1615
matchable1614
suitablea1616
congruous1631
fitten1642
responsal1647
appropriated1651
adapt1658
mack-like1672
squared1698
homogeneous1708
applicable1711
unforeign1718
fitted1736
congenial1738
assorted1790
accommodatable1874
OK1925
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. l. 113 (MED) The word was lich to the conceite, Withoute semblant of deceite.
c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 493 Hit is not lyttel..bot lykker to ryȝt; I wolde I were of þis worlde, wrapped in moldeȝ.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 367 This observaunce is most like you to do dewly Wherfore tak it vpon you brother we pray.
1477 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 609 An c li...is no money lyek for syche a joyntore as is desyred of my son.
1833 Lady's Bk. May 210/2 Keep thy jobbernowl to thysel'... Thy great leather paws are liker for Betty Pinnington's red neck nor mine.
1881 Chron. Stratheden 188 It wud look more liker her, the hussy, to work wi' a spade on the lawnd nor a shop.
1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words at Like It wad be mair like if ye went yorsel.
1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 170/2 It would be more like if you did it yourself.
1996 I. Macleod & P. Cairns Essent. Scots Dict. (2004) 350/1 It's mair liker it tae wear a kilt tae yer waddin'.
†9. Seeming to fulfil requirements; apparently suitable for the purpose; = likely adj. 6. Usually in the superlative. Obsolete (rare after early 18th cent.).In most cases, use of the positive adjective in analogous collocations (e.g. ‘the like means’, ‘a like place’, etc.) is apparently with reference to similarity rather than suitability (cf. sense A. 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > suitability or appropriateness > [adjective] > apparently suitable
likelyc1430
like1545
1545 R. Ogle Let. Feb. in J. Gairdner & R. H. Brodie Lett. & Papers Reign Henry VIII (1905) (modernized text) XX. i. 64 If the King be disposed to build it is the likest place in all the Border.
1592 Bess of Hardwick Let. 21 Sept. in www.bessofhardwick.org (accessed 8 May 2017) clxiii They are the likest instruments to put a bad matter in execution.
1659 R. Baxter Key for Catholicks xiv. 50 I appeal to all the impartial Reason in the world, whether your voluminous, apocriphal, uncertain faith that needs a living Judge,..be a liker way to peace and unity, then our short and plain Articles and infallible Scripture faith.
1717 in A. P. Wadsworth & J. De Lacy Mann Cotton Trade & Industr. Lancs. xii. 231 We would have you go down to Jamaica, which we look upon to be the likest market.
1833 H. Mayo Observ. Injuries & Dis. Rectum (1834) 41 In this case the exhibition of drastic purgatives is the likest means of affording relief.
1871 M. Reid Lone Ranche I. vi. 75 ‘It's a toss-up atween 'em,’ he said; ‘but let's take the one to the right. It looks a leetle the likest.’
III. Probable, likely, and related senses.
10. That may in view of present evidence be reasonably expected to happen or be true; probable, likely.
a. In predicative use, with infinitive as complement: likely to be or do the specified thing. Sometimes also with the implication of being on the verge of doing or being something (cf. to be liking to at like v.2 4 and sense A. 11). Cf. likely adj. 2b. Now rare and somewhat archaic. N.E.D. (1903) notes this use to be ‘now somewhat rare in literary use; still common colloq.’.
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 3452 Hir lijf was lickest to be ded.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) vi. l. 199 For that [brik] is maad in somer heete To sone is drie, and forto chyne is like.
?1507 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 94 Now dansand mery, now like to dee.
1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 16 Choose of the fairest and likest to thriue.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. v. 134 My graue is like to be my wedding bed. View more context for this quotation
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. 224 Lay a good foundation, and then the superstructure is like to stand.
1655 in W. Fraser Annandale Family Bk. (1894) II. 305 George hathe beine verrie sike thir 3 weikes, and not lyke to recover.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 368 A man much liker to spoil business, than to carry it on dextrously.
1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward I. ii. 34 The eldest man seemed like to choke with laughter.
1853 J. W. Carlyle Lett. II. 241 I am like to cry whenever I think of her.
1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxii. 32 Such leagues apart the world's ends are, We're like to meet no more.
1909 G. Greig Mains's Wooin' 48 There's like to be some big cheenges at Mains o' Bungry.
1997 New Yorker 13 Jan. 72/1 No such plain-dirt evidence of efficiency is like to matter.
b. In predicative use, chiefly with anticipatory it as subject and that-clause as complement. Cf. likely adj. 2a. Now archaic (regional in 19th and early 20th centuries).
ΚΠ
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 17 Thynges incredible and not lyke [L. incredibilia..et non verisimilia].
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xvi. 324 It wes weill lik..That he mycht haff conquerit..The land of Irland.
a1500 W. Lichefeld Complaint of God (Caius) l. 371 in Anglia (1911) 34 520 (MED) The erth opyned & swalowed all quyk As Datan & Abyron for her syn; And i am worse, hit is full lyke.
1541 T. Wyatt Defence in K. Muir Life & Lett. (1963) 195 Yt was not lyke that I shulde gett the knowledge beinge in Spayne.
?1542 H. Brinkelow Complaynt Roderyck Mors ii. sig. B3 Who hath the vantage, god knowyth, wether the king or..the officers..which is most lykest.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) v. i. 104 Oh that it were as like as it is true.
1664 S. Butler Hudibras: Second Pt. ii. iii. 191 And is it like they have not still In their old Practises some skill?
a1716 O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. liv. 560 He only desired time, and would, 'tis like, have been able to pay thee.
1733 E. Erskine Serm. in Wks. (1871) II. 152 The temple where it is like Isaiah got the manifestation.
1841 F. E. Paget Tales of Village II. i. 14 It's not like that they young things will take much thought about us poor folk.
1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood viii It's like I'll lay my banes here.
2013 S. McKay Friend & Foe (2014) v Hew heard Bartie mutter, ‘Aye, tis very like!’
c. attributive. Usually in the superlative. Cf. likely adj. 2c. rare.In most cases, use of the positive adjective in analogous collocations (e.g. ‘the like cause’, ‘a like explanation’, etc.) is with reference to similarity rather than likelihood (cf. sense A. 3).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > probability, likelihood > [adjective] > likely to be or do
belike1550
probable1583
in liking1601
like1757
1757 I. Fletcher Diary 14 Aug. (1994) 33 Cloudy, a like change of weather.
1885 J. J. G. Wilkinson Greater Origins & Issues of Life & Death xii. 58 The likest cause of Cholera disclosed is in our deceased Scientist brethren themselves.
1966 Poultry Sci. July 783/1 The likest explanation would appear to involve either the duodenum and/or ovarian follicle.
1995 Griffith Observer (Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles) July 11/1 Many astronomers think that the most like explanation..is a supermassive black hole within the core.
11. With reference to an action narrowly averted or avoided, with the action specified by to and an infinitive (usually a perfect infinitive): almost or nearly doing or being; coming close to; narrowly missing. Also (esp. in sense A. 11c) written with like to reduced to a single word, as liketa, liketer.Arising from the use of sense A. 10a in past-tense counterfactual contexts.Frequently analysed as an auxiliary verb: see the notes at senses A. 11b, A. 11c, and cf. like v.2 3.
a. In predicative use, with be in a past tense, as was like to, were like to, had been like to, etc. Now U.S. regional (chiefly south and south Midland) and in African-American usage.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adjective] > imminent, near, or at hand
towardc890
comingOE
at handc1175
hendc1175
hendc1175
short?a1400
likec1425
near present?c1450
hangingc1503
instant?1520
neara1522
approachinga1525
imminent1528
provenient1554
threatened1567
near-threateninga1586
eminent1587
impendenta1592
sudden1597
ensuing1603
dependenta1616
pending1642
incumbent1646
early1655
fast-approaching1671
impendinga1686
incoming1753
pendent1805
proximatea1831
simmering1843
pending1850
invenient1854
looming1855
forthcoming1859
near-term1929
upcoming1959
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 2052 (MED) I was lyk to haue be deuourid Of Caribdis.
?1454 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 252 If he had abedyn at hom he had be lyk to have be fechid owte of his owyn hows, for the peple þer-abowgth is sore mevod with hym.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 42 He spurred hys horse..and so..oftyn he was lyke to have smytten the herte.
?1530 J. Rastell Pastyme of People sig. *A.vi At a batell at wylton bytwene them the kynge lost the fylde, and was lyke to haue ben takyn, but yet he escaped.
1592 Arden of Feversham sig. H.2 In Temes streete a brewers carte was lyke to haue runne ouer me.
1663 in J. Raine Depos. Castle of York (1861) 113 The said Stranger..tormented her body soe intollerably that she could nott rest all the night, and was like to teare her very heart in peeces, and this morneing left her.
1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation xx. 235 After the Treaty had been like to have been broken off.
1819 Classical Jrnl. 19 155 This person..fixing the neglect of which he had been guilty..upon me; and I was like to have been brought to a trial before a court of justice.
1885 A. J. Church Chantry Priest of Barnet xxiv. 268 She was like to have died. And now she is very feeble.
1972 W. Labov Lang. in Inner City ii. 56 [Citing an African-American respondent from S. Carolina] I was liketo[sic] have got shot.
b. With be replaced by have, usually in had like to. Cf. had liked to at like v.2 3a. regional in later use.Probably arising from the ellipsis of been in had been like to (cf. had (also was, were) likely at likely adj. 3), perhaps also under the influence of the use of have as an auxiliary verb in counterfactual contexts (cf. have v. 39, 40). The subsequent development of had liked to suggests that reanalysis as a verb occurred (in some cases at least) by the end of the 16th cent., and in later, regional use like is often treated as a modal auxiliary, with had like to and had liked to parts of a single paradigm.In later use also with omission of have from the perfect infinitive so that like to is followed directly by the past participle (sometimes reinterpreted as a past tense); cf. sense A. 11c(b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > probability, likelihood > be or seem likely [verb (intransitive)] > to do
semblea1400
to make semblant1470
had (also was, were) likely?1503
had like to1548
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. clxviv The commissioners ordered that no wheate should be conueyed out of one shyre to another, whiche commaundement had like to haue raysed trouble.
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 25 Wemen comend it [sc. Alsine] greatly, and som say they haue tried it them selues... But that when I tasted it, had like to haue made me vomit [L. mihi..fere nauseam mouebat].
1592 A. Day 2nd Pt. Eng. Secretorie sig. M4v, in Eng. Secretorie (rev. ed.) That hee had like to haue knockte his head against the gallowes.
1651 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa I. i. i. 57 Ioy had like to have perform'd what Griefe had but begun.
1657 W. Rand tr. P. Gassendi Mirrour of Nobility i. 20 And these digressions..had like to cost him dear.
1701 W. Congreve Let. 28 Jan. (1964) 18 I must desire you to put Robin in mind, that his forgetfulness has like to have had an ill effect.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 78. ⁋4 The young Lady was amorous, and had like to have run away with her Father's Coachman.
1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality II. xii. 212 I had like to murder poor Mr. Vindex.
1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 16 Feb. (1939) 107 I had like to have been too hasty.
1873 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera III. xxvii. 7 I had like to have said something else.
1967–8 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) III. 356/2 [Iowa] She'd like to killed him. [Texas] She'd like to 'a' had a fit.
1976 W. Wolfram & D. Christian Appalachian Eng. 92 Well, she's liketa threw me... Matter of fact, she did one time.
c. Chiefly regional. With omission of be or have.In U.S. regional use typically treated as a modal auxiliary verb, constituting a paradigm along with the inflected liked to with the same meaning (see like v.2 3b). Examples of single word forms, esp. liketa, are particularly common in this construction; cf. gonna v., oughta v., useter v., etc., and the note at like v.2 3.
(a) With following infinitive, usually a perfect infinitive. Cf. like v.2 3b(a). Now U.S. regional (chiefly south and south Midland) and in African-American usage.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) v. iv. 47 I haue had foure quarrels, and like to haue fought one. View more context for this quotation
1720 D. Manley Secret Mem. (ed. 6) IV. 188 She advanced toward the Land of Coquetry, and like to have arrived there,..when Gallenicus retrenched all her Liberties,..took Home his Wife! lock'd her up!
1865 O. L. Jackson Colonel's Diary (1922) 189 I went out among the boys and like to have got intoxicated.
1889 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Despot Broomsedge Cove xviii. 327 That's what like to have happened to me.
1907 Sat. Evening Post 9 Nov. 32/2 He was cussin' so hard he like to 'a' fell off'n his hoss.
1954 Harder Coll. in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) III. 356/2 I like to a split a gut laughin'.
1987 C. Hulse In Tall Cotton vii. 109 I tell you I like to'a died.
(b) U.S. regional (chiefly south and south Midland) and in African-American usage. With omission of have from the perfect infinitive so that like to is followed directly by the past participle (see note below). Cf. like v.2 3b(b).Frequently interpreted as an adverbial phrase (or as an adverb in forms written as a single word) with the sense ‘almost, nearly’, modifying a verb in the past tense (an analysis probably arising from the widespread regional use of past tense forms as past participles; see, e.g., quot. 1907 at sense A. 11c(a)). Sociolinguists and dialectologists often explain this use as a reanalysis of the verb phrase as an adverbial rather than a reanalysis of the original adjectival phrase (see notes at senses A. 11b, A. 11c).
ΚΠ
1830 in Jrnl. Illinois State Hist. Soc. (1930–1) XXIII. 214 The boat went under a tree top and like to took me off.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxix. 333 We like-to got a hornet's nest, but we didn't.
1902 J. H. Nicholls Bayou Triste xi. 165 Miss Mary, I wuz dat flammergasted I liketer swooned.
1973 Black World Apr. 63 Damn brim like to covered broad street.
1988 Amer. Voice No. 10. 38 He liketa choked hisself, it run out so fast.
2001 P. Duncan Moon Women ii. 40 They was the light of Marvelle's life, and it like to killed her to lose them.
†12. English regional (northern and north midlands). Constrained or obliged to do something. Also with infinitive complement contextually implied. Cf. fain adj. 2b. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [adjective] > necessitated by circumstance
necessary?a1425
faina1535
perforce1580
like1828
obliged1892
1828 Rep. Trial W. & J. Dyon at Castle of York 11 I promised him I would not tell: I was like for fear of losing my life.
1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield 134 ‘I'm like to play that card,’ i.e., I must play it.
1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words at Like ‘Will yor Bella gan the morn?’ ‘Aye, she's like..’—that is, she ought certainly.
B. adv.
1. With complement. In or after the manner of; in the same way as; to the same extent as.
a. With noun or noun phrase as complement. Cf. sense A. 1a(a).
(a) Modifying the verb (typically following the verb or predicate directly) to suggest that the complement of like is similar or comparable to the subject or object of the verb, with respect to the action denoted by the verb.Now typically analysed as a preposition: see note at sense D.In cases where the complement corresponds to the object of the verb, like typically follows a past participle (e.g. quot. 1820).In Middle English also with the complement preceding like.
ΚΠ
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) v. l. 197 (MED) Þenne gon he for to go lyk [a1475 Harl. 875 as, B text c1400 Laud 581 liche] A gleo-monnes bicche..As hose leiþ lynes to cacche [emended in ed. to lacche] wiþ Foules.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 590 His top was dokked lyk a preest byforn.
a1500 Roberd of Cisyle (Cambr. Ff.2.38) (1879) l. 302 He rode no nodur lyke.
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 48 I hatit him like a hund.
1595 T. Bedingfield tr. N. Machiavelli Florentine Hist. viii. 221 The disorder of his ministers (who liued liker Princes, then priuate men).
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets xxix. sig. C3 Featur'd like him, like him with friends possest. View more context for this quotation
1645 J. Milton Psalm cxiv in Poems 13 The high, huge-bellied Mountains skip like Rams.
1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. Bentivoglio Compl. Hist. Warrs Flanders 133 Fearing their Town would fare like Oudwater.
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 2 July 1/2 This..is using a Man like a Fool.
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. ii. xxiii. 136 Working like Moles under ground.
1779 F. Burney Let. 12 Oct. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 375 She sings like her, Laughs like her, talks like her.
1820 J. Keats Lamia i, in Lamia & Other Poems 6 Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard.
1829 W. N. Glascock Sailors & Saints I. 185 The skipper was bellowing and bawling more like a new-made boson.
1854 A. Jameson Bk. of Th. (1877) 270 A lecture should not read like an essay.
1922 S. Leslie Oppidan i. 7 He had picked them up at the station like a hotel-tout.
1988 New Scientist 29 May 61/1 If computers are organised more like brains, will they behave more like brains?
2011 S. Bird Gap Year 9 Aubrey, who'd recently discovered how funny talking like a pirate was, answered, ‘Aye, me hearty.’
(b) Forming a phrase parenthetically modifying the whole sentence or clause.Now typically analysed as a preposition: see note at sense D. and cf. sense D. 1. Often also interpretable as a conjunction with the subordinate clause consisting only of its subject or object: see sense C. 1e.
ΚΠ
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. iv. sig. D3 And all the way, most like a brutish beast, He spued vp his gorge, that all did him deteast.
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. Q4 A drunken serieant or sumner, that could not liue, if (like the diuell) hee did not from time to time enquire after the sinnes of the people.
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. xxi. sig. M3 Like the Crocodile, he slimes thy way, to make thee fall.
1685 J. Jackson et al. Annot. Holy Bible II. sig. Zzv/2 Like a wilful Adulteress, they would not keep faithful to their Husband.
1705 M. Pix Conquest of Spain i. 10 Yet, like a Spring, it has reviv'd again This Autumn of my Years.
1780 W. Cowper Progress of Error 95 Like a slain deer, the tumbrel brings him home, Unmissed but by his dogs and by his groom.
1844 Yale Lit. Mag. Feb. 182 Like a lazy heir, we have received our patrimony, and are set down..to count and re-count, to view and re-view the golden inheritance.
1912 W. Hirsch Relig. & Civilization vii. 144 Like the Pharisees, they had a rigid ceremonial whose strict observance was their chief duty.
1986 B. Bragg Honey I'm Big Boy Now in Talking with Taxman about Poetry (record sleeve notes) She would wash and cook and clean, And all the other things between, And like a fool, I just sat there and let her.
2002 K. Jamie Among Muslims v. 191 Like a yodel, it carried through the cluster of her neighbours' houses.
b. With complement introduced by to (also unto). Formerly also (occasionally) with †after, †as. Cf. sense A. 1a.Apparently less common than use with a noun or noun phrase as complement from at the least the middle of the 16th cent. and especially from the 17th. By the 19th cent. restricted principally to poetic use, and now surviving only in a variety of nonstandard, esp. archaic, uses.In Middle English also with the complement preceding like.In use with as, often indistinguishable from like as used as a conjunction with subordinate clause consisting only of its subject or object (see Phrases 1a(d)), unless the complement precedes as (see, e.g., quot. a1400).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb] > so or in such a manner
soc888
ylikeeOE
asOE
so‥asa1225
likea1393
like asc1475
s'a1616
the same1765
same like1898
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 1950 (MED) As it semeth that a belle Lik to the wordes that men telle Answerth.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 5133 Þai com ham noght als prisuns like [Gött. lick, Trin. Cambr. liche], Bot als þai war knigthes rik.
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1869) II. 187 Floenge like to the water, ȝiffenge place like to the aier.
c1530 A. Barclay Egloges ii. sig. K.ii They fare lyke to curres.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 27v Rome..Tild vpon Tiber after Troy like.
1583 R. P. tr. P. de la Sierra Second Pt. Myrror of Knighthood ii. xxxi. f. 333v She..stroke her horse with the spurres, that she made him run like vnto the winde.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 266 Thou neuer should'st loue woman like to me. View more context for this quotation
1669 Earl of Winchelsea True Relation Mt. Ætna 7 All the Countrey covered with fire, ascending with great flames, in many places, smoaking like to a violent Furnace of Iron melted.
1776 Triumphs of Cross v. 151 I, like to a bow-shot arrow, flew.
1816 Ld. Byron Dream viii, in Prisoner of Chillon 44 Like to the Pontic monarch of old days, He fed on poisons, and they had no power.
a1848 P. J. Allan Poet. Remains (1853) 65 She I saw,..like to a propless vine, Droop in the arms of Death.
a1910 W. V. Moody Poems (1934) 254 Through the bright streets and misting country lanes, Like to a guilty spirit I stole on.
1965 J. M. Brewer Worser Days 114 De ol' granpappy call he little granchile to him an' talk like unto dis here.
2013 J. T. Hennig Greenwode (2014) vi. 59 The Abbess—it must be—was dressed like to the lesser nuns.
c. With an adjective or adjectival phrase as complement: in the manner of a person who (or thing which) is in the specified state or condition, or could be described in the specified way; in such a way as to give the impression of being in the specified state or condition. Now colloquial, esp. in like crazy at crazy adj. 4c, like mad at mad adj. Phrases 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb] > as if or as though
asOE
as ifc1175
askancesc1350
as whoc1380
like asa1393
like1405
like as and1523
1405 in J. Slater Early Scots Texts (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Edinb.) (1952) No. 59 Yhour men of Inglande has rydyne in Scotlande wyth gret company like in fere of were.
1567 G. Turberville Epitaphes, Epigrams f. 105 He sports to outward sight, but inward chafes like mad.
a1586 W. Dunbar in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS (1919) I. 388 Ȝon man is lyke out of his mynd.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. x. sig. K6 All looking on, and like astonisht staring. View more context for this quotation
1682 T. Creech tr. Lucretius De natura rerum iii. 87 The look is vivid still, nor seems like dead, Till every particle of Soul is fled.
1757 C. Arnold Poems Several Occasions 189 The Boys did shout, And run about like wild.
1828 D. M. Moir Life Mansie Wauch xvii. 248 Arm-and-arm together, smoodging and laughing like daft.
1887 Scribner's Mag. May 583/1 Marse Archie fling de rein ter Torm an' ran up de steps an' inter de house like possessed.
1961 G. Smith Business of Loving xi. 231 Sometimes we get rather soppy about each other..and laugh like young.
2014 E. Goodwin Contagious xii. 84 There he was, running like wild, chasing after us.
2. Without complement. Cf. alike adv., ylike adv. 1.
a. Modifying an adjective or adverb: to the same degree or extent; equally. Cf. alike adv. 1. Now archaic or poetic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > [adverb]
evenlyeOE
evenOE
evenOE
egallyc1374
full outa1382
likea1400
even-forthc1400
unec1540
just1551
at once1588
upon the same measure1598
equal1623
equally1634
coequally1643
so1697
inasmuch1732
twinly1913
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 158 Whanne þat alle þe brawnys traueilen liche myche [L. equaliter].
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xvii. l. 20 Men of grete welþe, And liche witty and wys.
1496 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (de Worde) i. xxvii. sig. cviv/2 The sonne in hymselfe..is alwaye atte one and shyneth alwaye all lyke.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 165v Twoo feloes beeyng lyke flagicious, and neither barell better hearyng, accused either other.
1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health cxxxi. 116 [Mutton] is..not like good in all places in Englande.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iii. iii. 41 Subtle as the Fox for prey, Like warlike as the Wolfe, for what we eate. View more context for this quotation
1695 E. Hickeringill Lay-clergy 10 That other like ill-advised expression.
1790 Compan. to Museum (Leverian Mus.) 120 Whenever there is a flaw in clear quartz crystals, the fractured part frequently exhibits like beautiful colours.
1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II i. xvii. 16 Hut and palace show like filthily.
1852 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 5) 337 All His gifts Like wondrous, like unlimited, like fair, As when the wind first blew.
1923 C. M. Doughty Mansoul (rev. ed.) ii. 44 All ways shine like dimly luminous.
2012 L. Shepherd Solitary House xxi. 265 You have heard me say often enough, to the victims in like unhappy affairs, that I will not turn out of my way.
†b. Continually, unchangingly, always. Usually preceded by alway or ever. Cf. alike adv. 2, in like adv. 2. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > frequency > [adverb] > always or in every case
alwayeOE
aldayOE
everOE
by night and (by) daylOE
ayc1175
algatea1200
alwaysc1225
everylikec1225
stillc1297
evermorea1300
algatesa1325
alikec1330
early and latec1330
at all assaysc1360
universallya1398
likec1400
continuallyc1460
tidely1482
ay-whenc1485
from time to (formerly unto) timea1500
at all seasons1526
at once1563
at every turn1565
throughout1567
still still1592
still1594
still and anona1616
still an enda1616
every stitch-while1620
everlastingly1628
constantly1651
everywhen1655
eternally1670
allus1739
any day (of the week)1759
everly1808
allers1833
every time1854
toujours1902
all (the way) down the line1975
c1400 ( Canticum Creatione l. 964 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 136 (MED) Þeȝ stoden in erthe..and woxen noþer more ne les, Bote al wey stoden liche grene.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xxix. l. 81 (MED) This Braunch..Evere lich Grene it was.
1571 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Morall Fabillis (Bassandyne) 30 For euer we steill, and euer ar lyke [?a1500 alyk ar] pure.
†c. In the same or a similar manner. Cf. earlier alike adv. 3a, in like adv. 1, likewise adv. 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > identity > [adverb]
alsoOE
after onec1385
alikea1393
of the same1399
in likec1400
accordinglyc1449
in like casea1459
after one rate1509
like1529
numericallyc1600
identically1625
undistinguishably1671
formally1682
just the same1874
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb]
ylikeeOE
alsoOE
with likec1175
swilk12..
in (also on and without preposition) like mannerc1330
in semblable case(s, in case(s semblable1390
item1398
in likec1400
semblably1420
in like wise1422
likelya1425
likewisec1443
alikewisec1450
ylikedealc1450
in like casea1459
ylikewise1460
otherwaysc1485
semblable1490
sic-like1513
like1529
seemably1535
likeways1551
agreeably1561
fellowlikea1569
alliably1593
likewisely1605
in specie1632
similarly1657
resemblingly1661
kindredly1765
evenwise1866
1529 T. More Dyaloge Dyuers Maters iii. xvi. f. xcv/2 Waxeth a precedent for the remanaunt to be vsed lyke.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 317v (margin) Quoque the coniunction, & coce the vocatiue of cocus, souned both like in Cicero his tyme.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 1v To shote compasse, to draw euermore lyke, to lowse euermore lyke.
†3. Accordingly, correspondingly.
a. With prepositional phrase with to or after as complement: in accordance with, according to; = sense B. 3b. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > conformity to or with a pattern, etc. > [adverb] > conformably or accordingly
thereafterc1175
likec1425
likec1425
accordantlyc1443
thereby1512
pursuantly1530
agreeable1549
pursuant1659
accordingly1688
whereby1918
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 6017 (MED) With gret honour..He was reseyuyd, like to his estat.
c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) l. 5784 Arrayed lyche to hir degre.
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 20067 (MED) Ther be..Many constellacions..And lyk affter ther dyfferences [Fr. selon la difference], They yive in erthe influences.
a1500 Tracts Eng. Weights & Meas. 15 in Camden Misc. (1929) XV (MED) And thus the count by yards and elles lyke aftre the rekenyng of poundes.
1562 T. Sternhold et al. Whole Bk. Psalmes xci. 229 But thou shalte see it for thy parte, thyne eyse shall well regarde: That euen lyk, to theyr desert, the wicked haue reward.
b. With noun phrase as complement: in accordance with, according to; = sense B. 3a. Obsolete.Sometimes analysed as a preposition: see note at sense D.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > conformity to or with a pattern, etc. > [adverb] > conformably or accordingly
thereafterc1175
likec1425
likec1425
accordantlyc1443
thereby1512
pursuantly1530
agreeable1549
pursuant1659
accordingly1688
whereby1918
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 1601 (MED) Priam hath..buried hem..Lyke þe custom of her rites olde.
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 14281 The ffox, lyk hys entente, Took the chese, and forth he wente.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 131 And to ham yeue thow lyke har deserte.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xxix. sig. Gg7 She..vsed him much liker his birth, then his fortune.
4. With infinitive as complement: as if about to; in such a way as to be likely to. Cf. sense A. 11a. Now chiefly regional.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > near in time > about to or on the point of > as if about to
likea1470
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 686 Sir Harry..made his horse to renne over sir Bleoberys and rosshed hym to the erthe lyke to have [1485 Caxton lyke yf he wold haue] slayne hym.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) xliii. sig. Hviv The paleys trembled like to haue gone all to peces.
1534 G. Joye tr. Dauids Psalter sig. L.viii Thou hast smiten togither & broken our lande, heale her breaches for she reeleth lyke to fal.
1695 J. Drummond Let. 25 Feb. (1845) 57 Here happened an earthquake, which lasted about three minutes. Our house stood it out,..except our bed shook like to throw us out of it.
?a1784 J. Haime Short Acct. God's Dealings (1785) 42 I got up, and walked up and down the room, wringing my hands, and crying like to break my heart.
1849 G. Cupples Green Hand (1856) xvii. 168 I lay on my back,..my head aching like to split.
1894 P. H. Hunter James Inwick 201 Greetin like to break her heart.
1921 R. Edwards Summer Ann. 66/2 The charming creature..peruses those letters and laughs like to kill herself.
2013 K. Erskine Seeing Red viii. 64 Remember when you screamed like to raise the dead 'cause your raft was sinkin' and you thought you'd drown?
5. Likely, probably. Usually in superlative, comparative, or similar modified or graded collocations, as most like, very like. Cf. also (as) like as not at Phrases 5b, like enough at Phrases 5a. Now colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > probability, likelihood > [adverb]
welleOE
lightly1395
likely1395
likinglyc1395
by (also of) likeliheadc1405
by (also of) likelinessc1405
by all (also most) likelihood1427
provably1460
of (all) likelihood1491
belike?1531
like1548
belikelya1551
in (all) likelihood1570
probably1600
by (also in) probabilitya1602
in (also by) all probability1617
presumably1658
prob.1730
nigh hand1848
predictably1914
prolly1922
odds-on1976
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. ccxxxii He was had in contempte with theim, and therefore mooste lyke by one of theim thus shamefully murdered.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) v. i. 268 Will money buy em? Ant. Very like . View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) v. vi. 259 Most like I did. View more context for this quotation
1682 E. Hickeringill Black Non-Conformist Postscr. sig. X2v He may Fire a canon, and kill a Friend as like as an Enemy.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 321 I was much deceived in them... Very like... It takes a smart man to be up to chaps of their sort.
1898 G. Meredith Odes French Hist. 29 No more at midway heaven, but liker, midway to the pit.
1937 D. Jones In Parenthesis iv. 94 Better see the gaffer—a bit along be the piss-house next the Gas-post—most like.
1992 D. Glazer Last Oasis 61 ‘Bet they take some dustin',’ Betty said. ‘Very like.’ ‘An if they get broke someone'll be for it.’
6. colloquial.
a. Used conversationally to qualify a preceding (or in later use also following) statement, suggesting that the statement is approximate, or signifying a degree of uncertainty on the part of the speaker as to whether an expression is pertinent or acceptable: ‘as it were’, ‘so to speak’, ‘in a manner of speaking’. Also used simply as a filler, or as an intensifier used to focus attention on the statement retrospectively.Overlapping with sense B. 6b when used as an intensifier or filler.
ΚΠ
1778 F. Burney Evelina II. xxiii. 222 Father grew quite uneasy, like, for fear of his Lordship's taking offence.
1801 ‘Gabrielli’ Mysterious Husband III. 252 Of a sudden like.
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. vi. 96 The lady, on ilka Christmas night..gae twelve siller pennies to ilka puir body about, in honour of the twelve apostles like.
1840 T. De Quincey Style: No. II in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 398/1 Why like, it's gaily nigh like, to four mile like.
1929 ‘H. Green’ Living vi. 57 'E went to the side like and looked.
1966 Lancet 17 Sept. 635/2 As we say pragmatically in Huddersfield, ‘C'est la vie, like!’
1981 W. Russell Educating Rita ii. iii. 44 There's always a like—erm—erm..a like vein.
2003 C. Birch Turn again Home x. 142 ‘'Preciate your concern, Nelly,’ he said, ‘only it's easier said than done, like.’
b. Originally U.S. Used as a marker, intensifier, or filler in conversation or spoken discourse to introduce or focus attention on a following statement or question. Also used in written discourse which has an informal, conversational tone.
ΚΠ
1950 Neurotica Autumn 45 Like how much can you lay on [i.e. give] me?
1959 She May 21/2 Like wow…wonderful.
1971 Black Scholar Apr. 26/1 Man like the dude really flashed his hole card.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 17 July 1/3 Like, this was at 11 or 12 years old.
2011 S. Webb Love & Other Drama Ramas (2014) iii. 28 ‘Everyone, like, back,’ Annabelle,..commands in her recently acquired quasi-Californian accent.
c. spec. Used with a verb introducing reported speech or thoughts reported as if speech (cf. think v.2 1b). Now esp. in to be like at Phrases 8.Often presented as distinctive of the speech of Valley Girls (see valley n. Compounds 1a(b) and cf. quot. 1982 at Phrases 8).
ΚΠ
1970 Time 31 Aug. 19 Afterward, a girl came up to me and said, ‘You kinda look interested in this; did you know there are civil rights for women?’ And I thought like wow, this is for me.
1978 Proc. 6th Southwest Areal Lang. & Linguistics Workshop 71 She goes like, ‘Yeah, you got one minute.’
1993 J. Deppa Media & Disasters i. ii. 53 I said like ‘No, no way,’ and he said, ‘Yes.’
2003 A. G. Koss Cheat 162 But I go, like, ‘Get a life, twit. It's got nothing to do with you!’
C. conj.
1. Introducing a clause expressing quality or manner; = as conj. II. Cf. earlier like as at Phrases 1a.Probably arising partly from the extension of the range of complements taken by like in adjectival and adverbial uses (see senses A. 1, B. 1) to include clauses, and partly from an ellipsis of as in the phrasal conjunction like as.Use of like as a conjunction was often deprecated by usage writers and prescriptivists during the 19th and 20th centuries, although it has been established in the language since the later Middle English period. N.E.D. (1903) says that the use is ‘now generally condemned as vulgar or slovenly, though examples may be found in many recent writers of standing’.
a. Introducing a supposition: as if, as though. Cf. Phrases 1a(a), as conj. 7.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [conjunction] > as if
alsoOE
as though1297
likec1400
and?a1475
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 1008 (MED) Nou is hit plunged in a pit like of pich fylled.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) lxxv. sig. Tiiv He was bygge & hye aboue all other & coloured like the rede rose had been set on the whyte lyly.
1628 T. Taylor Practise of Repentance xxviii. 267 It is like he had not beene last among the Apostles in number, who was before them all in the Kingdome.
1660 Wonderfull Escape of Gracious King (single sheet) William he did bring him food, like he were a ranger.
1886 Harper's Mag. June 109/2 None of them act like they belonged to the hotel.
1898 H. S. Canfield Maid of Frontier 100 I sprung from the chair like a man had shot me through the head.
1932 T. S. Eliot Sweeney Agonistes 30 When you're alone in the middle of the bed and you wake like someone hit you on the head.
1969 Observer 23 Mar. (Colour Suppl.) 23/2 They look at me like I'm dirt.
2013 A. Casale Bone Dragon (2014) 53 They ran away to get married, like she was a princess and he was a commoner.
b. In the manner or way that; (also) to the same extent as; just as, even as; = as conj. 8.
(a) With the subordinate clause including a verb, often an anaphoric do.
ΚΠ
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) vi. l. 370 (MED) Thou [sc. Fortune] brouhtest men in trouble..Lik a corsour makth coltis..With spore & whippe to be tame & mylde.
1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes ii. xxxv. sig. Kvv Atte the top of hit was made fast croswyse another more longe that went vp & doune like a balance doeth.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) cix. sig. Mmii You haue said like a noble Ladie ought to say.
1658 W. Johnson tr. F. Würtz Surgeons Guid iii. xix. 280 The patient still moveth the wounded joint, like the jack of a watch doth move.
1715 M. Davies Εἰκων Μικρο-βιβλικὴ 253 To act like Judith did with Holofernes.
1803 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) I. 12 He talks like Brunswick did.
1866 C. Darwin Let. in Life & Lett. (1887) III. 58 Unfortunately few have observed like you have done.
1909 Daily Chron. 26 July 5/6 It was a near go to being cut in half like the Tiger was.
2007 S. Dunne Reaper (2009) xxix. 449 After university we were supposed to work at the plant and learn the ropes from the bottom up, like Dad had done.
(b) With the ellipsis of the verb in the subordinate clause (which would otherwise be repeated from the main clause or replaced with do).
ΚΠ
1591 R. Greene Notable Discouery of Coosenage sig. E4v Such base crosse-biters, as pray vpon men like Rauens on dead carcasses.
1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa II. i. vii. 290 Doe not you thinke me past recovery, and in that faith doe like Physitians to Patients, which are so, permit them any thing?
1789 R. Cumberland Arundel I. xxviii. 174 Am I to crouch to you, like the descendants of the aged Eli to the child Samuel.
1803 Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1804) 140 The servants..stare upon me like the deer On Selkirk, in Fernandez.
1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 136 Ere yet we have shed our locks like trees their leaves.
1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood xii. 202 Rising out of it, like ships out of the water, were huge figures, and he saw that they were mounted men.
1988 Bella 4 Apr. 17/3 When we met I was drawn to him like a pin to a magnet.
2002 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Apr. 20/3 If our mayor is a success and appears to be having fun..some of his very rich peers will be leaping into electoral politics like dogs on a bone.
c. With the subordinate clause introduced by like preceding the main clause introduced by anaphoric so, for emphasis; = as conj. 15. Cf. Phrases 1a(c).Often with ellipsis of the verb in the subordinate clause, which is retrospectively implied by the main clause; in early use, these elliptical examples are difficult to distinguish from sense B. 1a(b).
ΚΠ
1487 W. Caxton tr. J. Legrand Bk. Good Maners iv. xiii. sig. g vj For lyke thomycyde taketh away the lyf. So doon the vsurers taken a way the substannce fro the poure people.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Apr. 7 Like April shoure, so stremes the trickling teares.
1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles i. 205 Like an arrow shot from a well experienst Archer hits the marke his eye doth leuell at: so thou neuer returne vnlesse thou say Prince Pericles is dead.
1696 T. Bray Course Lect. Church Catech. I. xiii. 139 Like an Enemy, who Besieges a City, does always assault the weakest part of the Walls: So does he attack the Soul, where he perceives its greatest Infirmities.
1897 Catholic Dict. (ed. 5) at Redemption Like His satispassion, so His satisfaction embraces the whole earthly career of the Saviour.
1984 J. Epstein What does Philip Roth Want? in Plausible Prejudices (1985) 213 Like cityscapes to Bellow, so bedscapes to Roth; one senses he could do them in his sleep.
2011 independentclauses.com 30 May (O.E.D. Archive) Like Dylan went, so goes Mynx; there's a lot more instrumentation here.
d. With the subordinate clause consisting only of an adverbial or complement: in the same way as; (also) as if, as it were; = as conj. 6a.
ΚΠ
?1505 J. van Doesborch tr. Lytel Treatyse xv. Tokens sig. civ Lyke whan the mayster is deth than the seruaunt putt on hem blacke clothes in token of mornyng.
a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) iv. sig. E.i Like when Apollo leaueth Lycia,His wintring place, and Xanthus floods likewise.
a1627 W. Sclater Brief Comm. Malachy (1650) 121 Thus permitting him to fortifie himself, and then to overthrow him, this shewed his power; like at this day, when they are flourishing like Cedars, then cuts he them down.
1723 tr. F. C. Weber Present State Russia I. 343 They are not kept in Fish-pools and Stews, like in other Places.
1808 Lady Jerningham Lett. (1896) I. 321 Her victuals were put in a turn, like at a Convent.
1896 Daily News 24 Oct. 7/4 Snow..is descending in thick flakes like in January.
1935 Rotarian Nov. 35/1 Before I thought I burst out, with obvious sarcastic intent—‘Oh, do you have to bring a note when you're away, like at school?’
1977 Zigzag June 15/2 He was so pleased to see me that he threw a tableful of drinks over..like in the movies!
2003 T. C. Sengfeng in D. Chislett Urban 03 98 My hands were shaking like when I found myself in trouble.
e. With subordinate clause consisting only of its subject or object: after the manner of, the same way as. Cf. as conj. 10.Often difficult to distinguish from the use of the adverb in sentence adverbial phrases: see sense B. 1a(b). Most easily distinguishable when the subordinate clause consists of a first or third person subject pronoun, although even in such cases, the pronoun may be a hypercorrection for, or regional variant of, the object pronoun that would be expected in the complement of the adverb.
ΚΠ
?1565 Smyth that forged New Dame sig. a.ii I sawe hym never wyth myne eye That could werke lyke I.
1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne ii. li. 29 But let vs menage war with blowes, like knights.
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xiv. 114 As if I had been a..neat dillidarling Minion, like Adonis.
1749 T. Smollett tr. A. R. Le Sage Gil Blas I. ii. iv. 121 A few who, like thou and I, drink nothing but water.
1817 L. Hunt in Examiner 1 June 345/2 Not swelled out and insidiously optimized at the top, like Mr. Southey's stale strawberry baskets.
1897 Speaker 1 May 496/1 Dr. Whitaker, evidently analysing the system..from the bottom upwards..rather than from the top downwards, like Hallam.
1943 F. M. Stenton Anglo-Saxon Eng. viii. 267 No other king of the Dark Ages ever set himself, like Alfred, to explore whatever in the literature of Christian antiquity might explain the problems of fate and free will.
1992 Harper's Mag. May 76/2 Asserting that we, like they, must fantasize about torrid, steamy, X-rated, whips-and-chains kind of stuff.
f. colloquial (originally U.S.). Introducing a clause modifying the whole main clause or some part other than its predicate: in accordance with what; in the way that. Used chiefly with verbs of saying or telling, e.g. like I said. Cf. as conj. 9a.
ΚΠ
1898 A. Le Feuvre Bulbs & Blossoms ii. 24 They're all under the ground, just like you say the flowers are!
1908 Secret Service 9 Oct. 11/1 I chased him out like I told you.
1940 Amer. Boy Feb. 4/2 Like Harvey says, I—I wanted you to see our way of doing things.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 34 (advt.) Send for your copy now. Like we said, it's free.
2015 T. Wallach We all looked up 215 We could be on our way to California, like you wanted.
†2. As well as; and also. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. v. 9 Gastly lookes Are at my seruice like inforced smiles. View more context for this quotation
1664 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders (new ed.) i. sig. e2 You that know what good Building is, both by a Genius..infused into your Spirit, like by your particular applications to all things answerable thereunto.
D. prep.For an explanation of the distribution of senses between preposition and other parts of speech, see note at etymology.
1. In the same way as; as in the case of. Used parenthetically to assert that what is predicated of the subject of the verb is true in the same or a similar way as it is of the complement of like. Cf. sense B. 1a(b).In some cases also interpretable as a conjunction with the subordinate clause consisting only of its subject or object: see sense C. 1e.
ΚΠ
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 7 Vnlesse the Epicureans like the Gyauntes Cyclopes, wold bearing themselues bolde vppon this hye degre outrageously make warre againste God.
1615 T. Adams Englands Sicknes sig. D2v The world, like fire, may be a good seruant, will bee an ill Master.
1713 R. Steele in Guardian 12 Aug. 2/1 Women, like Cats, should keep the House.
1766 T. Amory Life John Buncle II. xi. 411 The parent, like the king, must be..a rational humane sovereign.
1835 N. Hawthorne in Token & Atlantic Souvenir 116 Like uncle Parker,..I am a spinner of long yarns.
1884 H. R. Kempe Handbk. Electr. Testing (ed. 3) xii. 284 Like galvanometers, the..electro-dynamometer is not susceptible of great accuracy when readings are very low.
1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xxvi. 440 Like him, I mistrust intellectualism.
1987 M. Brett How to read Financial Pages xiii. 155 Like any company, a bank needs some money of its own.
2000 M. Beaumont e 331 He, like the rest of the department, is in Bar Zero getting disgustingly drunk with Brett and Vince.
2012 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 12 July 41/1 Like poems, good stories never overexplain.
2. Such as.
a. Introducing one or more typical examples of the specified type.
ΚΠ
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation Aunsw. Lett. sig. **3v Be thou Iohn, the many-tongued Linguist, like Andrewes, or the curious Intelligencer, like Bodley.
1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada i. v. i. 64 Rash men, like you, and impotent of will, Give chance no time to turn; but urge her still.
1851 Harper's Mag. July 209/1 The Ptolemaics of the world are second..only to epochal discoverers like Copernicus.
1878 J. Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. 196 The distinction between the truly heroic ruler of the stamp of Cromwell, and the arbitrary enthusiast for external order, like Frederick.
1919 T. S. Eliot in Athenæum 9 May 298/1 Some poets, like Shakespeare or Dante or Villon, and some novelists, like Mr. Conrad, have..points of view, or ‘worlds’.
1934 J. B. Priestley Eng. Journey ii. 26 [It] offers you fantastic little old thoroughfares like Mary-Le-Port Street and Narrow Wine Street.
1979 W. F. Murphy Vicar of Christ 17 All the big things..you'd have to keep in mind: like whether artillery could reach a place or whether it was so steep you need mortars.
2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Jan. c27/4 Other Russian currency types for sale, like the poltinas and tympfs, are as obscure.
b. Introducing a particular example restricting the reference of a general class of which something is predicated: of the nature or character of; such as.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective] > like or such as
like1629
1629 G. Chapman tr. Juvenal Fifth Satyre in Iustification Nero 17 To force thy hold From thy attempted prize, with taunts like these.
1663 T. Porter Villain ii. 19 A man like you needs never fear a Rival.
1729 E. S. Rowe Lett. Var. Occasions 10 What Figures of Speech could you make use of to take off from Vices like these their Deformity?
1798 tr. F. Schiller Don Carlos iii. x. 165 When men like you are inactive, it is a public loss.
1858 A. Trollope Dr. Thorne II. iv. 68 The chances are she won't have you—that's of course; plums like that don't fall into a man's mouth merely for shaking the tree.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Lett. (1899) II. 41 A critic like you is one who fights the good fight, contending with stupidity.
1887 S. Colvin Keats i. 1 A birth like that of Keats presents to the ordinary mind a striking instance of nature's inscrutability.
1949 Archit. Rev. 106 375/1 Let us..consider a country like Japan where, after wholesale destruction, four million minimum dwellings are now being programmed.
2010 B. Agbaje Off Endz ii. 15 Your friend is a waste of space. A person like him I wouldn't spit on if he was on fire.

Phrases

P1. Phrases with as.
a. like as (sometimes in form likeas): introducing a clause expressing quality or manner; = as conj. II.With like as an emphatic modifier of as; compare later use of like as a conjunction, which partly arises through the ellipsis of as in this construction (see sense C.).
(a) Introducing a supposition: as if, as though. Cf. as conj. 7, sense C. 1a. Also occasionally as like. Cf. like as if at Phrases 1b. Now colloquial or nonstandard.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb] > as if or as though
asOE
as ifc1175
askancesc1350
as whoc1380
like asa1393
like1405
like as and1523
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 3456 (MED) And evere...Lich as thei weren fisshes skales, Ther fellen from him.
1499 Mirk's Festialis (de Worde) i. f. cxiiv/2 To..bere a candell brennynge in processyon [on Candlemas Day]. As lyke they wente bodely with our lady.
1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 14 [Kneed grasse] is so called, bicause it hath ioints like as it were knees.
1650 Voy. & Trav. Sir John Mandevile (new ed.) lii. sig. N2 In this land grow Trees that beare Meale, of which men make faire Bread and white, and of good savour, and it seemeth like as it were Wheat.
1847 A. Brontë Agnes Grey xi. 173 It seemed like as a new light broke in on my soul.
1906 J. Wedwyn Crumleyknowe 100 It's no like as we were a young couple.
1987 R. Coover Night at Movies (1992) 70 It is as like he has lost something.
2010 G. D. Thompson Angel in Darkness i. 4 It seemed like as he recalled that he was a seemingly invisible voice floating around the crowd.
†(b) In the manner or way that; (also) to the same extent as; just as, even as; = as conj. 8. Cf. sense C. 1b. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1414 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) IV. 58/1 We..ne oughte not to answere lyk as bondemen of byrthe shulde, for the whiche the forseide Statut was made.
?c1450 (?a1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 368 (MED) Þai cowde not schake away þis bonde by a contrari glose, lijke as oure prestis kan nowe.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin iii. 41 He..tolde hym alle thynges like as were be-ffalle.
a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1907) I. 111 That all maner Brewers, Tapsters & huksters sell goode ale & sufficient, like as the mair ordeyneth.
1611 Bible (King James) Job v. 26. Thou shalt come to thy graue in a full age, like as a shocke of corne commeth in, in his season. View more context for this quotation
1691 A. Gavin Frauds Romish Monks (ed. 3) 194 They are all of dry'd Flesh, like as her Heart is.
1717 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 347 Likeas the Synod did, and hereby do, approve thereof.
(c) With the subordinate clause introduced by like as preceding the main clause introduced by anaphoric so, for emphasis or clarity; = as conj. 15. Cf. sense C. 1c. Now rare.In some examples (e.g. quots. 1664, 1800) with ellipsis of the verb in the subordinate clause, which is retrospectively implied by the main clause; cf. Phrases 1a(d).
ΚΠ
c1425 Twiti Venery (Vesp. B.xii) 150 (MED) Like as lecteture put thyng in mende Of lerned men, ryght so a peyntyde fygure Remembryth men unlernyd in hys kende.
1517 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1928) xliv. 219 Lyke as the worlde was dystroyed totally By the vyrgyns sone, so it semed well A vyrgyns sone to redeme it pyteously.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms cii[i]. 13 Like as a father pitieth his owne children, euen so is the Lord mercifull vnto them that feare him.
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lx. sig. E Like as the waues make towards the pibled shore, So..our minuites..In sequent toile all forwards do contend. View more context for this quotation
1664 Advice of Father; or, Counsel to Child 175 Thy Taper..burns, and like as the wax, so dost thou waste.
1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Piccolomini iv. i. 148 She's now rising: Like as a sun, so shines she in the east.
1846 M. Fuller Papers on Lit. & Art i. 76 Like as a fever rages in the blood before we are aware, even so creeps upon the soul this disease.
1904 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 17 136 Like as the Son was obedient to his Heavenly Father, so also may the eternal Godhead bless and protect me by his rose-red blood.
1941 Monumenta Nipponica 4 177 He..lamented that, like as the clouds that nightly meet on the peak of Takama in Katsuragi must part and the rain cease, so had they to separate at the sound of the temple-bell at dawn.
†(d) With subordinate clause consisting only of its subject or object: after the manner of, in the likeness of, the same as; = as conj. 10. Cf. sense C. 1e. Obsolete.In early use often difficult to distinguish from use of the adverb with a complement introduced by as: see sense B. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb] > so or in such a manner
soc888
ylikeeOE
asOE
so‥asa1225
likea1393
like asc1475
s'a1616
the same1765
same like1898
c1475 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1974) 189 All the charge aught nat to be put vpon the noble men that had leuyr lyue as lordis vpon thaire goodes than for to be logged vnthan[k]fully like as [Fr. comme] hostes in othir mennys daunger.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) ix. 222 Lete vs goo there like as prue and worthy knyghtes.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 120 For as thow come sa sall thow pas. Lyk as ane schaddow in ane glas.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 34 Thair semelie schroud likeas siluer schene.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball vi. lxxvii. 758 The Birche tree hath taglettes or Chattons for his blossom, lyke as the Hazell.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 111 The males will kill the young ones, if they come at them like as the Bore-cats.
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 161 Gall'd jealousy, like as the tide, ebbs to rest.
1922 W. D. Lighthall Old Meas. 55 Like as a lioness, wounded for her whelp, Britannia stands.
(e) With the subordinate clause consisting only of an adverbial or complement: in the same way as; (also) as if, as it were; = as conj. 6. Cf. sense C. 1d.
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1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xv. f. xxxiii Lyke as in the wageour of a lawe, they shall not swere that the defendaunt oweth not the money.
c1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) iv. 1236 And now our lawes for Mammons cursed golde Like as at open mart are bought & solde.
1704 J. Pitts True Acct. Mohammetans viii. 106 They Travel four Camels in Breast..tied one after the other, like as in Teams.
1752 W. Stukeley Diary Dec. in W. C. Lukis Family Mem. W. Stukeley (1883) II. 379 Clouds intervening like as in the glass receiver.
1880 F. S. Growse tr. Rámáyana Tulsi Dás iv. 51 The lakes swell gradually and imperceptibly, like as when the quality of goodness develops in a good man.
1933 H. Danby tr. Mishnah i. 98 Like as at the birth of men his [sc. the androgynous] mother continues unclean because of him in the blood of purification.
2002 AQ: Austral. Q. Nov. 35/2 He suggested that the threat of terrorism could be combated ‘militarily, like as in the war in Afghanistan’.
b. like as if: as the case would be if, just as if; = as if at as adv. and conj. Phrases 1a. Cf. Phrases 1a(b), like as and at Phrases 1c. Now nonstandard.
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1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) clx. sig. O.vi They gadre togyder golde & syluer in euery place lyke as yf it grewe.
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xvi. i. 53 Hee came to Augustudunum aforesaid; like as if [L. velut] he had beene a leader of long continuance.
1663 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. D. Sennert Art Chirurg.: Fifth Bk. Pract. Physick (new ed.) v. i. xl. 2521/1 In the Forehead there appear here and there Tumors or Swellings, like as if they were certain Horns.
1763 Genuine Trial M. Beddingfield & R. Ringe 15 I heard a little noise, I could not tell what it was, like as if children were crying.
1799 S. T. Coleridge Lett. (1895) 272 I held the letter in my hand like as if I was stupid.
1882 Wesleyan-Methodist Mag. July 548/2 It was like as if I never saw what sin was before; how real and how dreadful.
1975 J. B. Keane Lett. of Matchmaker in Celebrated Lett. (1996) 325 The strangest feeling came over me like as if I was the only creature in the whole wide world.
2001 D. King Burglar Diaries xx. 158 He's looking really fucking nervous now, like as if twenty Dobermans have just wandered in and started growling at him.
†c. like as and: as the case would be if, just as if; = as and at as adv. and conj. Phrases 1d. Cf. Phrases 1a(b), like as if at Phrases 1b. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb] > as if or as though
asOE
as ifc1175
askancesc1350
as whoc1380
like asa1393
like1405
like as and1523
1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng xiii. f. xxviv To haue the rule of his body, landes & goodes, that his wife chyldren and seruauntes, haue laboured for all their lyfe tyme, to be so taken, lyke as and it were extorcion.
†P2. Phrases with like as modifier.
a. in like case: in the same or a similar manner; likewise. Cf. in like wise adv. Obsolete.
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the world > relative properties > relationship > identity > [adverb]
alsoOE
after onec1385
alikea1393
of the same1399
in likec1400
accordinglyc1449
in like casea1459
after one rate1509
like1529
numericallyc1600
identically1625
undistinguishably1671
formally1682
just the same1874
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb]
ylikeeOE
alsoOE
with likec1175
swilk12..
in (also on and without preposition) like mannerc1330
in semblable case(s, in case(s semblable1390
item1398
in likec1400
semblably1420
in like wise1422
likelya1425
likewisec1443
alikewisec1450
ylikedealc1450
in like casea1459
ylikewise1460
otherwaysc1485
semblable1490
sic-like1513
like1529
seemably1535
likeways1551
agreeably1561
fellowlikea1569
alliably1593
likewisely1605
in specie1632
similarly1657
resemblingly1661
kindredly1765
evenwise1866
a1459 Ld. Scales in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 196 Take ȝe on and he a noþer, and if þey may not accorde ȝe and I to be vmpere, for we stande boþe in lik cas.
1546 W. Hugh Troubled Mans Med. i. sig. D.vii As he which hath the dropsy the more he drynketh the more he thirsteth, in lyke case the worldly man the more he hath, the more he couiteth.
1589 Voy. W. Towrson in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations i. 99 We..manned out our Skiffe in like case to laye him aboorde.
1672 E. Ashmole Inst. Order of Garter xxi. 596 The Saterday at Wyndesor, the Lords and Knights of the Garter keepe the Chamber, and in like case the Sonday at Souper.
1770 Ann. Reg. 1769 Antiquities 150/2 Every captain of an hundred footmen doth receive weekly, upon every Saturday, his full entertainment of twenty-eight shillings. In like case, every lieutenant fourteen shillings.
1864 Statutes at Large Provisional Govt. Confederate States Amer. 123 The State of Virginia..shall be entitled to elect sixteen members to the House of Representatives; and the State of North Carolina, in like case, ten members.
b. like case (also likecase): = in like case at Phrases 2a. Obsolete (English regional (Lincolnshire) in later use).Quot. 1939 is an ad hoc archaism in a poetic text.
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a1475 in D. Thomson Middle Eng. Grammatical Texts (1984) 94 What maner of verbis haue strenght to cowpull lyke case? Verbys substantyves, uerbes vocatyves, and uerbys hauyng (hor) strenght. How mony uerbes substantyues ben þer? III... Sum, fio, and existo.
1534 Kirton-in-Lindsey Churchwardens' Accts. in E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (1889) (at cited word) Paid wytsonday for ij ponde sope for weching cherche clothes iij d. Paid at lammes lyke case iii d.
1554 M. Huggarde Path waye to Towre of Perfection sig. E.iiiv If thou dwell still in him, and he lyke case in the, He beinge the head, and thou a member pure, Must folowe the head, this can non other be.
1579 W. A. Speciall Remedie (Roxburghe Club) sig. f iijv Yet haue I yeelded like a coward thoe, And followed his pleasures vaine like case.
1600 G. Markham Teares of Beloved sig. D4v Now to returne to Pilate, who like case, To the common hall had entred now with speede.
1889 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (ed. 2) (at cited word) Thaay chuckt th' watter tub oher, like caase thaay brok th' tap on it.
1939 K. Patchen First Will & Test. 65 Whatsoever thy mustard gas findeth to do, do thou likecase with thy whole might.
†P3. all like: one and the same, all the same thing. Cf. all a case at case n.1 Phrases 12. Obsolete. [In quot. 1477 after Middle French tout pareil, lit. ‘all equal’ (a1402 in the passage translated); compare earlier all one at all adj., pron., n., adv., and conj. Phrases 2.]
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the world > relative properties > relationship > identity > [adjective] > identical
oneOE
all oneOE
alikea1393
all like1477
indifferent1530
selfsame1582
identical1601
same1621
identitial1635
identica1657
indistinguishable1658
identifical1673
undistinguishable1679
tautological1689
indistinctible1781
1477 Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (Caxton) (1877) lf. 21 Whersomeuer one deye, the weye to the other worlde is all like [Fr. tout pareil].
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke v. f. lxxii Iohns training of his disciples, & my breaking of myne, are of twoo sundrye sortes, because the marke that we shoote at, is not all lyke [L. diversus est scopus].
1573 tr. M. Luther Expos. Salomons Bk. iv. f. 73v Otherwise, ye state and condition of priuate men and kings is all like [Ger. ein Ding].
†P4. As a postmodifier in phrases denoting equal shares, as part and part like (cf. partlike adv.), portion and portion like, share and share like (see share n.2 Phrases 1a), etc. Obsolete.
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the mind > possession > sharing > [phrase] > with equal shares
portion and portion like1540
share and share likea1566
share and share alike1766
1540 in R. G. Marsden Select Pleas Court Admiralty (1894) I. 96 To be compelled to bere and pay their partes and porcions of the same averyge after the rate of their said goods porcion and porcion lyke.
1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions ii. ix. sig. N.iij Thei..eate parte and parte like, the one with the other.
1589 J. Sparke in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 527 This [wine] deuided, part and portion like to euery man.
a1638 R. Brownlow & J. Gouldsborough Rep. Diverse Cases (1651) 129 The words of the Will were to my right Heires Males and posterity of my name, part and part like.
1707 Gen. Disc. Commerce 71 in A. Justice Gen. Treat. Monies If a Bankrupt..hath a Debt due to him by Bond of 20 l. now the Commissioners may assign and divide this..to every Creditor a portion, part and part-like.
1775 Coll. Most Remarkable & Interesting Trials I. 201/2 The printer swears..he was to go share and share like.
P5. Phrases in which the sense is ‘likely’.
a. like enough: very likely, probably. Now somewhat archaic.
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1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus Praise of Folie sig. Qivv They (like enough) will reproue me. [No corresponding sentence in the Latin original.]
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1396/2 Some sayd it was his wife, some sayd the Keper. Like enough (my Lord) quoth Symons, for hee is one of the same sorte.
1641 J. Bond Doore of Hope 47 As many as are contrary-minded, (like enough) doe repine and howle in secret, to see so blessed a close of so perilous a businesse.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. vii. ix. 65 ‘Like enough,’ cries the Squire, ‘it may be so in London.’ View more context for this quotation
1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island iii. xiv. 115 Like enough, to judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot.
1966 G. Mackay Brown Cal. of Love 129 Here I was and here like enough I would sit until God's will in the matter was made plain.
2004 D. Drake Master of Cauldron iii. 84 Like enough he made mistakes; he was human, after all.
b. colloquial. (as) like as not: very likely, most probably. Cf. (as) likely as not at likely adj., adv., and n. Phrases 2.
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1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke Prol. f. xiiiiv Notwithstandyng, lyke as not euery manne did at that tyme with eguall synceritie and purenesse preache the ghospell.
1652 N. Culpeper Eng. Physitian (new ed.) To Rdr. sig. A2v A man reading Gerards or Parkinsons Herbal for the Cure of a Diseas, he may as like as not, light on an Herb that is not here to be had.
1753 London Mag. Jan. 31/2 If they show'd infringe his pre-rogue-alive, as like as not, he maack a bilthy bustle abaut it.
1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing xxxi. 125 But its like as not, the newspapers 'll blab it out before I get half way there.
1921 Collier's 25 June 3/3 Like as not I will have to go back pitchin' baseball in some bush league on the account I am too old for the Big Time.
1997 R. Bowen Evans Above (1999) i. 16 Probably went down on the railway to Llanberis. Like as not they're having a drink there now.
2001 A. O'Hare Green Eyes i. 10 Followed as like as not by a dose of Syrup of Figs,..her panacea for all ills.
P6. Phrases of the adjective or adverb with a complement.
a. like another: that is ordinary, unexceptional, or unremarkable; that is just one of a number of similar things, events, etc., and in itself has no particular interest. In later use also commonly like any other.
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1623 P. Gosselin tr. A. Rivet State-mysteries Iesuites 42 The people made the King, which otherwise had beene a priuate man like another [Fr. comme un autre].
1792 tr. in Polit. State Europe I. 501 By the French constitution, the King is the first public functionary, the organ of the nation in respect to foreign powers. In himself he is a mere citizen like another.
1838 J. F. Cooper Homeward Bound II. vii. 105 It is no great merit to be a seaman, for the trade is like another, a mere matter of practice and education.
1865 E. Jolly Cypresses I. ii. iii. 178 ‘Oh, Marie!.. You did not call me, and you promised!’ ‘Marie is mortal, like another,’ answered Marie, sullenly.
1904 H. James Golden Bowl I. xiii. 236 Isn't the whole thing..perhaps but a way like another for their gaining time?
1947 Social Res. 14 165 This hierarchy, like any other, is a social order in which human relations are determined by the degree of authority exercised by one group over another.
1966 I. Murdoch Time of Angels xviii. 193 I suppose it's a skill like another.
2002 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 11 Oct. 10 He would treat the sad duty as a job like another, except that he would come to the house after the funeral for a sherry.
2010 A. Taylor Angels of Protection i. 12 It was a day like any other, what I would call a ‘normal day’.
b. In proverbial expressions where like heads two parallel clauses .
(a) In proverbial expressions in the formula like ——, like ——, with the general sense ‘as is the first mentioned, so is the second’, typically where one of the specified parties can be expected to exert influence or control over the other by virtue of the relationship between them, e.g. like master, like man, like mother, like daughter, etc., [Compare classical Latin similem habent labra lactucam ‘like lips, like lettuce’ (compare quot. 1538 and lettuce n. 2); compare also similar expressions in Middle French and French, which apparently became common towards the end of the 16th cent., e.g. telle mère, telle fille (c1275 in Old French as tel la mère tele la fille), tel maître, tel vallet (1552 or earlier), tel pédagogue, tel disciple, telle racine, telle feuille (both 1581 or earlier).]
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1538 T. Elyot Dict. Simileis habent labra lactucas, a prouerbe applyed to theym, whiche beinge of lyke yll condicions, be matched togither, as a lewde seruaunt with an yll master, an vnruly people to a negligent gouernour, a shrewde wife to a frowarde husbonde &c. Lyke master lyke man.
a1563 J. Bale King Johan (1969) ii. 1922 Lyke lorde, lyke chaplayne.
1596 E. Topsell Reward of Relig. iii. 66 Truely now is like seruant, like maister; like maide like mistresse, like father like sonne, like mother like daughter, such is the seede such is the haruest.
a1640 P. Massinger City-Madam (1658) i. i. 104 Like Hen, like Chicken.
a1640 P. Massinger City-Madam (1658) ii. ii. 29 Like Bitch, like Whelps.
1690 T. Plunket Char. Good Army Introd. 4 Those infernal Arms..have been led by such Wretches, as they are themselves; like Head, like Body; like Officers, like Souldiers.
1714 J. Adams Ahab's Evil 25 Obscene Discourses every where abounding, which could not otherwise be expected, when we had so great a Person for our Pattern; for like Prince, like People.
1770 G. Colman Portrait ii. 18 Like mistress, like maid. Like master, like man. Nature will be obey'd On a general plan.
1834 F. Marryat Jacob Faithful II. vi. 140 But like mother like child, they say.
1899 J. V. Bartlet Apostolic Age i. vii. 245 That the same member should express, now hate to man, and now love to God..violated a fundamental law of nature and of Grace: like root, like fruit.
1950 Hutchinson (Kansas) News-Herald 5 Oct. 4/1 (heading) Like government; like people.
1973 Jet 27 Sept. 21/2 My trainer, Bill Pearl, won that title [sc. Mr. Universe] when he was 42, and I hope to prove the saying, ‘Like teacher, like student’.
2013 F. W. Weldon New Countess 213 Probably Minnie had fallen in love with some mad artist and run off: like mother, like daughter.
(b) esp. in like father like son (also daughter) and variants : a child's character or behaviour usually resembles that of his or her father. [Compare post-classical Latin qualis pater talis filius (6th cent.), Middle French, French tel père tel fils (1550 or earlier), tel père tel enfant (1540 or earlier).]
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c1475 Proverbs (Rawl. D.328) in Mod. Philol. (1940) 38 124 (MED) Sepe probat natus de qua sit stirpe creatus: Sygge fader, sygge sonne.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xciv. §10. 342 Ill sunnys folous ill fadirs.
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. lxxxxviii An olde prouerbe hath longe agone be sayde That oft the sone in maners lyke wyll be Unto the Father.]
1596 E. Topsell Reward of Relig. iii. 66 Truely now is like seruant, like maister; like maide like mistresse, like father like sonne, like mother like daughter, such is the seede such is the haruest.
1708 O. Dykes Moral Reflexions Eng. Prov. ix. 30 Like Father, like Son.
1800 M. Edgeworth Simple Susan i, in Parent's Assistant (ed. 3) II. 64 ‘Barbara! aye! like father, like daughter,’ cried Farmer Price.
1841 Satirist 11 Apr. 118/2 It is not likely that he would see what his father made it his business..to be blind to. Like father like son.
1915 J. London Star Rover xii. 113 ‘Like fathers like sons,’ he said. ‘The young generation is as bad as the older.’
1952 Princeton Alumni Weekly 22 Feb. 14/2 Like father, like daughter, she is tops in her field.
1982 A. Desai Village by Sea iii. 56 Like father, like daughter. A family of liars, no-goods.
2014 Guardian (Nexis) 29 Jan. (Sport section) 10 Javier Ballesteros..holed out from 10ft for birdie: like father, like son.
c. colloquial. more like it. Also more like (with ellipsis of it). Cf. more adv. 1j.
(a) Nearer to what is required or expected; more satisfactory, more acceptable; better. Frequently used conversationally as an expression of approval.
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the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > [phrase] > expression of approval
for my money1548
more like it1836
1836 ‘Pedestres’ & ‘C. Woodenpeg’ Pedestrian Tour through Wales & Eng. I. Pref. p. xii This is more like it—Will this do better?
1888 R. Kipling Phantom 'Rickshaw (1889) 81 ‘That's more like,’ said Carnehan. ‘If you could think us a little more mad we would be more pleased.’
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II (1968) 8 ‘Ah,’ said Beelzebub, ‘this is a bit more like it, a bit hotter. The Devils feel at home here.’
1964 A. Wilson Late Call iv. 141 Shopping in the Town Centre provided something more like, and she ambled around, taking her time.
1968 P. Durst Badge of Infamy vii. 61 ‘Would you like some coffee?’ ‘Now that's more like it. Sure why not?’
2006 P. Williams Rise & Fall Yummy Mummy xxx. 208 Ah, this is more like it. The clinic is white and clean, an orchid on the desk, fashion magazines.
(b) Used to indicate that a second description of something is more accurate than the previous one: closer to the truth; more accurate (or accurately).
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1906 Irish Monthly Oct. 543 It is raining! Deluge would be more like it.
1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) 2 78 Real pilot be sugared. Real little show-off, more like!
1997 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 24 Apr. 29/1 But parroting is the wrong word. Magpieing would be more like it.
2003 T. Litt Finding Myself 295 Where is Marcia? Ill again, I'm told. Hiding, more like.
d. like new: (of an item for sale) second-hand (or shop-soiled), but in a condition allegedly as good as new; also attributive. Cf. as new at as adv. and conj. Phrases 4e.
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1863 Times 5 Feb. 2/2 (advt.) To be sold, under peculiar circumstances, a handsome Circular Miniature Brougham, in condition like new.
1889 Eng. Mechanic 22 Nov. 270/3 (advt.) Handsome walnut Harmonium, powerful tone, 8 stops, like new, perfect.
1898 Morning Post 22 Dec. (advt.) Family 'Bus, with roof seat, like new.
1948 Pop. Photogr. Dec. 244/1 (advt.) McFadden's Christmas Specials. Eastman Sound Kodascope 16mm (demonstration Model, like new).
1992 Soldier of Fortune Oct. 27/2 The AN/PVS-2B..is the best performing first generation scope issued..to the U.S. Military... These ‘like new’ Starlight scopes are selling fast.
2007 Weekend Post (Port Elizabeth) 21 Apr. 21/1 (advt.) Tata 2006.., like new, only done 8 000km's with warrantee.
e. colloquial. like so: in this manner, in the way described.
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1902 C. B. Batchelder Little Miss Van Winkle ii. 24 That costume—honorable wear Kimona down like so.
1973 N.Y. Times 21 Jan. 36/6 Works like so: you open the mail, a letter, a message and file it away for future use.
1991 S. Cisneros Woman Hollering Creek 158 The votive candles are arranged like so.
2009 Hana Hou! (Hawaiian Airlines) Feb. 45/1 Decompression sickness works like so: During a dive, nitrogen bubbles form in the blood; if a diver surfaces too rapidly, the bubbles expand and lodge in joints.
f. like that (also like this).
(a) In that (or this) manner.
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1830 Lives Remarkable Youth I. 220 ‘Ah, I shall never be able to paint like that!’ was his exclamation upon their removing him from the picture.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xxx. 300 If he only acted like that, what a deal of money he'd draw!
1847 Bentley's Miscell. 22 317 You're a wery good man to play like this to the children; but we've no money at all to give you.
1884 J. Ruskin Let. to F. Randal in Wks. (1907) XXX. Introd. 65 What do you think I would give to be your age, and able to draw like that!
1896 Littell's Living Age 4 Apr. 15/1 ‘Speak like that,’ she said; ‘speak like that, while you work. l like it.’
1921 S. Kaye-Smith Joanna Godden iv. xxiii. 269 She had never felt like this before—she could never have imagined that love would make her feel like this.
1988 W. Damon & D. Hart Self-Understanding Childhood & Adolescence (1991) v. 121 So I'm not an over bubbly person that goes around, ‘Hi, how are you?’ you know like that.
2016 S. Moussavi N.Y. City ii. 21 I wanted to see if I could succeed like that. I wanted to see if we could succeed like that.
(b) Used with reference to an action that is felt to be inappropriate: in that (or this) way.
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1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold i. iii. 51 Don't take on like that, for if the chaps see you they are sure to call you ‘cry-baby’.
1868 Monthly Packet Sept. 276 I feel quite ashamed to complain like this, and there is really so little to tell.
1882 Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours (1883) Aug. 124/1 ‘You are too young and good-looking to carry on like this—’ ‘Hold your tongue!’
1904 Sporting News (Launceston) 5 Mar. 1/3 ‘You needn't look like that,’ he continued.
1954 A. E. Coppard Lucy in her Pink Jacket 95 Cristobel placidly asked: ‘Why are you being like this?’
1991 R. Banks Sweet Hereafter iii. 113 I apologize for coming over unannounced like this.
2000 T. A. Kessler D-Girl (HBO TV shooting script) 58 in Sopranos 2nd Ser. (O.E.D. Archive) Your father would catch a bullet for you, don't you ever talk about him like that.
2008 C. Foster Big Steps for Little People iii. 48 They were assuming that if it had been alright for them to behave like they had in their birth home, it must be all right for them to behave like that with us.
(c) spec.
(i) don't be like that: used to appeal to a person to stop behaving in a particular, esp. uncooperative or hostile, way; ‘stop acting like that’, ‘don't behave like this towards me’. Cf. be like that at Phrases 6f(c)(ii).
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1865 R. D. Blackmore in Macmillan Mag. Oct. 486/2 ‘Tell me truly, do you think—I can hardly ask you.’ ‘Think what, Cradock? My poor Cradock; oh, don't be like that!’
1878 T. Hardy Return of Native III. v. vi. 186 ‘What did you next see? I particularly want to know.’ ‘Don't be like that, Damon!’ she murmured. ‘I didn't see anything.’
1940 Crisis May 142/3 ‘I ain't gon' stand here watch you snore!’ ‘Don't be like that, chippy.’
1993 A. L. Kennedy Looking for Possible Dance 79 ‘I'll just tell him you've ate the last Penguin, then watch him greet.’ ‘Aw, Heather, man, don't be like that.’
2012 Z. Smith NW (2013) 116 Nah, wait, don't be like that, listen to me; I'm not trying to chirps you.
(ii) be like that: used to express affected indifference to negative behaviour, typically with a petulant or resentful tone. Cf. don't be like that at Phrases 6f(c)(i).With sentence stress on be.
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1955 F. K. Brown Road Inland vi. 67 ‘Do I pass inspection?’ he demanded sarcastically. Startled, she looked away... All right! Be like that…but the small hurt lacerated her shyness all over again.​
1965 S. Mackay Music Upstairs 60 Be like that then. Don't say hello—I don't care.
1987 A. Cohen Ministering Angel xxviii. 149 ‘To what bloke are you referring?’ asked Carmichael, rather coldly... ‘Oh, alright then, be like that!’
2010 ‘J. Le Carré’ Our Kind of Traitor xv. 260 OK. Be like that. See if we care.
(d) On very friendly or intimate terms. Usually accompanied (on the part of the speaker) by the gesture of crossing the fingers.
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the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [adjective] > intimate or familiar > very intimate
hand and glove1654
hand in glove1737
as great (or thick) as inkle-weavers1738
as thick as glue, as inkle-weavers, as peas in a shell, as (two) thieves1833
like that1925
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby ix. 206 ‘We were so thick like that in everything’—he held up two bulbous fingers—‘always together.’
1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xxii. 219 ‘You're a friend of Whisper's?’ ‘You bet.’ He held up two thin fingers pressed tightly together. ‘Just like that, me and him.’
1936 D. Powell Turn, Magic Wheel i. 37 Theatrical people..just got here from London—they're like that with Cochrane—they know Dame Sybil Thorndike personally.
1971 M. Russell Deadline xv. 182 ‘Of course you had to get on terms with Gregory.’ ‘Now we're like that.’
2000 I. Edward-Jones My Canapé Hell (2001) v. 116 ‘So what was Gwyneth like?’‘A real trooper,’ sniffs Jack. ‘We're like that, you know,’ he says, crossing the first two fingers of his right hand.
2011 G. Mitchell Strange Man iii. 44 ‘Me and him, we're like this.’ Dras attempted unsuccessfully to cross his fingers.
g. colloquial (British and Irish English). what is he (she, etc.) like?: used rhetorically as an expression of dismay or incredulity at a person's behaviour, esp. as a light-hearted or indulgent response to behaviour that is quirky or otherwise irregular and remarkable. Cf. sense A. 1c.
ΚΠ
1989 N. Cherry et al. Buffalo Stance (transcript of song) in www.lyricsfreak.com (O.E.D. archive) What is he like? What's he like anyway? Yo' man what do you expect the guy's a gigolo man You know I mean [sic]?
1995 J. O'Connor Red Roses & Petrol 59 Good god, what are you like? I don't know what your father would say if he was here.
2000 J. K. Rowling Harry Potter & Goblet of Fire xvi. 231 ‘What's she like?’ said Ron, exasperated, as Hermione ran away up the marble staircase.
2005 Evening Chron. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 5 Aug. 24 Oh God! Listen to me. Charidee! How very cheesy. Honestly, what am I like?
P7. Golf. like as they (also we) lie: having played the same number of strokes for a hole or round. Cf. sense A. 7.
ΚΠ
1858 Chambers's Jrnl. 4 Sept. 158/2 They arrive within a few yards of the last hole ‘the like as they lie’.]
1881 R. Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 34 Like-as-we-lie, when both parties have played the same number of strokes.
1891 Golf 18 Sept. 13/1 Both sides were like as they lay in three.
1910 P. G. Wodehouse in Collier's 19 Mar. 28/3 But when he won two more holes, bringing the score to like-as-we-lie, it [sc. hope] flamed up within him like a beacon.
1955 R. Browning Hist. Golf xxviii. 178 At every point at which the opponents had played an equal number of strokes for any hole, they would describe the position as being like as we lie.
P8. colloquial (originally U.S.). to be like: used to report (actual or simulated) direct speech (often expressing a person's feelings); to say, utter; (also) to say to oneself. Also with all (see all adv. 1d). Frequently in the historic present. Cf. sense B. 6c, be v. 21, go v. 11c(b).Often used to convey the speaker's response to something, or to introduce segments of an ongoing conversation between two or more speakers. Sometimes also used to introduce a gesture or facial expression evocative of the speaker's feelings.
ΚΠ
1982 F. Zappa & M. U. Zappa Valley Girl (song) in F. Zappa Ship arriving too Late to save Drowning Witch (CD lyrics booklet) (1995) 435/2 She's like Oh my God.
1986 N.Y. Mag. 14 July 37 I was like, ‘She's got a new dress?!’.
1990 Amer. Speech 65 217 And I was just like, [making a face].
1992 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 17 Nov. (Final ed.) a9 ‘It makes me so mad to see him like that,’ one girl says. ‘I'm all like, God, what happened to him?’
1998 T. R. Tangherlini Talking Trauma vi. 146 And Darryl's like, ‘Who's this fellow?’ She goes, ‘That's my husband.’ He's like, ‘Do you have a car?’.. The guy says, ‘Well, I don't got any gas.’
2008 Daily Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 7 June (State ed.) (Sport section) 88 When it came to the contract he cut it back a quarter, so I'm like, whatever, it's still more than what I was asking for.
P9. anything like: see anything pron., n., and adv. Phrases 2. nothing like: see nothing pron., n., adv., and int. Phrases 5a. something like: see something adv. 3.
P10. In proverbial similes (treated fully under the principal word).Examples are common from the 16th cent.
a. In proverbial phrases. to know like the back of one's hand: see back n.1 4a. to read (also know) like a book, to speak (also talk) like a book: see book n. Phrases 2m, Phrases 2i. to grin like a Cheshire cat: see Cheshire n.1 to smoke like a chimney: see chimney n. 4c. to die like a dog: see dog n.1 Phrases 3a. to laugh like a drain: see drain n. 1f. to eat like a bird, like a horse: see eat v. Additions, horse n. 25a. to drink like a fish, like a lord: see fish n.1 Phrases 1a, lord n. and int. Phrases 3c. to fit like a glove: see glove n. 1f. to sell like hot cakes: see hot cake n. 2. to get on like a house on fire: see house n.1 and int. Phrases 1h. to live like a king, like a prince, like a lord, like a pig in clover: see king n. Phrases 5, prince n. 5, lord n. and int. Phrases 3b, pig n.1 Phrases 10a. to shake like a leaf: see leaf n.1 Phrases 1d. to go down like ninepins: see ninepins n. 2b. to read like an open book: see open book n. 2. to spread like a rash, to be all over a person like a rash: see rash n.4 Phrases 1, Phrases 2. to catch like a rat in a trap: see rat n.1 Phrases 5. to run like a redshank: see redshank n. Phrases. to rise like a rocket and fall like a stick: see rocket n.5 Phrases 1. packed like sardines: see sardine n.2 d. to sleep like a top: see sleep v. 1e. to stick out like a sore thumb: see sore adj.1 9e. to stare like a stuck pig: see stuck adj.2 1. to swear like a trooper, like a lord: see trooper n. 1b, lord n. and int. Phrases 3a. to spend money like water: see water n. Phrases 1d. to run like the wind: see wind n.1 Additions. to work like a —: see work v. Phrases 4.
b. In commonplace adverbial or adjectival phrases with specialized meanings. like a fly in amber: see amber n.2 5. like an angel: see angel n. Phrases 1a. like a bear with a sore head: see bear n.1 Phrases 1. like getting blood out of a stone: see blood n. Phrases 1o. like a ton of bricks: see brick n.1 and adj.1 Phrases 3c. like a bump on a log: see bump n.2 Phrases 1a. like taking candy from a baby: see candy n.2 Phrases 2. like a charm: see charm n.1 1c. like clockwork: see clockwork n. 2b. like a dog's dinner: see dog's dinner n. (b) at dog n.1 Compounds 3d. like a dream: see dream n.2 and adj. Phrases 6. like a drowned rat: see drowned adj. 1b. like a dying duck in a thunderstorm, like water off a duck's back: see duck n.1 2. like a fish out of water: see fish n.1 Phrases 1a. like a hen with one chick: see a hen with one chick (also chicken) at hen n.1 Phrases 2. like herding cats: see herd v.2 Additions. like a cat on hot bricks: see hot brick n. 1. like a million bucks, like thirty cents: see million adj. 5, thirty adj. 1c. like a possum up a gum tree: see possum n.1 Phrases 1. like pulling teeth: see pull v. 3b. like rabbits: see rabbit n.1 Phrases 3. like a red rag to a bull: see red rag n. 2.
c. spec. In phrases describing an action carried out rapidly, with great vigour or energy, or without restraint or limitation.Examples are found from the 17th cent. (e.g. like the devil) and are common from the middle of the 19th cent.
(a) like a bandit: see bandit n. Additions. like a bat out of hell: see bat n.1 c. like a blue-arsed fly: see blue adj. and n. Compounds 1d. like a big-assed bird: see big-assed adj. Compounds. like a bull at a gate: see bull n.1 1c. like the clappers: see clapper n.1 3a. like a demon: see demon n. 4b. like the devil: see devil n. Phrases 2a. like a dragon: see dragon n.1 2c. like gangbusters: see gangbuster n. and adj. Phrases. like a lamplighter: see lamplighter n. 1. like lightning: see lightning n. 1. like a rat up a drainpipe: see rat n.1 Phrases 8. like a scalded cat: see scalded adj.1 Phrases. like a shot: see shot n.1 7d. like smoke: see smoke n. 4h. like wildfire: see wildfire n. 5c.
Categories »
(b) In colloquial phrases in which the complement of like is taken as expressive of vigour, energy, etc., rather than being obviously similative. like anything: see anything pron., n., and adv. Phrases 6. like blazes: see blaze n.1 2b. like billy-o: see billy-o n. like blue murder: see blue murder n. Phrases 2. like fun: see fun n. and adj. Phrases 7. like hell: see hell n. and int. Phrases 4c. like nobody's business: see nobody pron. and n. Phrases 3b. like sin: see sin n. 2c. like split: see split n.1 4a. like stink: see stink n. 3b. like one thing: see thing n.1 Phrases 2h.

Compounds

C1. Compounds of the adjective.
a. Parasynthetic and complementary, with the sense ‘similar, alike’.
like-complexioned adj.
ΚΠ
1769 J. Morton College Exercise 8 We can suppose it would be an infinite pain to know the black hearts, and like-complexioned deeds of those about us!
1881 G. Allen Anglo-Saxon Brit. vii. 58 As to the descendants of the light Britons, we cannot, of course, separate them from those of the like-complexioned English invaders.
2008 B. I. Koerner Now Hell will Start iv. 70 The enlisted men detested like-complexioned MPs as the worst sorts of Uncle Toms.
like-coloured adj.
ΚΠ
1537 M. Coverdale tr. Original & Sprynge of all Sectes f. 34 Theyr clothynge is lyke coloured and fashioned, with a crosse theron.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory i. ii. 11/2 Our ancient Britains..had their Shields painted Blew: Perhaps..because the Isle is invironed with the like coloured Ocean.
1808 A. Wilson Amer. Ornithol. I. 49 They..lay the same number and the like colored eggs.
1901 ‘C. Holland’ Mousmé iii. 33 Mousmé was clad simply enough in one of her most beautiful kimonos of apricot silk..and an obi of like-coloured silk.
2000 Pop. Mech. Sept. 116/3 Join like-colored wires in twist connectors.
like-natured adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective]
ylikeeOE
likeOE
anlikeOE
accordanta1325
of a (also one) mouldc1330
kindred1340
lichy1370
likelyc1384
alikea1393
ontinkela1400
evenly?c1400
similable?a1440
semble1449
of a sort1463
seemable1501
uniform1548
resembled1553
self-like1556
like-natured1566
resembling1573
kindlike1579
of the same, that, every, etc. feather1581
resemblant1581
marrow1585
similar1586
like-seeming1590
twin-like1599
connatural1601
similary1610
semblativea1616
otherlike1620
like-shaped1640
connate1641
homogeneous1641
consimilar1645
congenerous1646
resemblancing1652
congeniousa1656
congenerate1657
equaliform1660
congenial1669
similitive1678
symbolizant1685
synonymous1690
of akin1723
consimilary1736
like-sized1742
cogeneric1777
alike as a row of pins1785
congenerica1834
Siamese1833
congener1867
lak1881
sorty1885
homoeomorphic1902
homogenized1958
1566 T. Heskyns tr. St. Cyril of Alexandria in Parl. Chryste ii. xvii. f. cxxiv That this rude and earthlyie bodie by a like natured [L. cognato] tast, touching, and meat, shoulde be reduced to immortalitie.
1712 E. Nicholson Death-bed Repentance Consider'd 128 Those Arguments which were first proper against the hypocritical proud Pharisees, and also against the like natured Papists, shou'd at last be turned with such out-cry against pious Protestants.
1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 21 Like natured with them?
2007 D. Torevell Liturgy & Beauty of Unknown iii. 92 Society was no longer a group of like-natured men and women bound together by the rituals of the Church.
like-seeming adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective]
ylikeeOE
likeOE
anlikeOE
accordanta1325
of a (also one) mouldc1330
kindred1340
lichy1370
likelyc1384
alikea1393
ontinkela1400
evenly?c1400
similable?a1440
semble1449
of a sort1463
seemable1501
uniform1548
resembled1553
self-like1556
like-natured1566
resembling1573
kindlike1579
of the same, that, every, etc. feather1581
resemblant1581
marrow1585
similar1586
like-seeming1590
twin-like1599
connatural1601
similary1610
semblativea1616
otherlike1620
like-shaped1640
connate1641
homogeneous1641
consimilar1645
congenerous1646
resemblancing1652
congeniousa1656
congenerate1657
equaliform1660
congenial1669
similitive1678
symbolizant1685
synonymous1690
of akin1723
consimilary1736
like-sized1742
cogeneric1777
alike as a row of pins1785
congenerica1834
Siamese1833
congener1867
lak1881
sorty1885
homoeomorphic1902
homogenized1958
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. iii. sig. C5 By his like seeming shield her knight by name Shee weend it was.
1842 Dublin Monthly Mag. June 455 No periods, no two events or series of events, be they ever so like-seeming, are in reality like.
2003 D. Coyle Waking Samuel (2004) xx. 236 She noticed that the trash seemed to have organized itself over the years, drifting into piles of like-seeming materials.
like-shaped adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > [adjective] > of similar shape
like-shaped1640
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective]
ylikeeOE
likeOE
anlikeOE
accordanta1325
of a (also one) mouldc1330
kindred1340
lichy1370
likelyc1384
alikea1393
ontinkela1400
evenly?c1400
similable?a1440
semble1449
of a sort1463
seemable1501
uniform1548
resembled1553
self-like1556
like-natured1566
resembling1573
kindlike1579
of the same, that, every, etc. feather1581
resemblant1581
marrow1585
similar1586
like-seeming1590
twin-like1599
connatural1601
similary1610
semblativea1616
otherlike1620
like-shaped1640
connate1641
homogeneous1641
consimilar1645
congenerous1646
resemblancing1652
congeniousa1656
congenerate1657
equaliform1660
congenial1669
similitive1678
symbolizant1685
synonymous1690
of akin1723
consimilary1736
like-sized1742
cogeneric1777
alike as a row of pins1785
congenerica1834
Siamese1833
congener1867
lak1881
sorty1885
homoeomorphic1902
homogenized1958
1640 J. Gower tr. Ovid Festivalls iii. 58 Of shields like-shap'd [L. simili..figura] he bids to make a dozen.
1897 Daily News 5 Feb. 11/1 Like-shaped and like-sized balls.
2004 Buffalo News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 21 Nov. g1 All emotion is checked by the presentation of these like-sized and like-shaped buildings as representative types.
like-sounding adj.
ΚΠ
1573 R. Lever Arte of Reason i. xi. 49 What like sounding wordes are, and howe in arguing and conference of talke they are to be restrained to signify but one thing, we haue said afore.
1673 J. Ogilby Asia 58/2 Their [sc. the Persians'] Verses close almost after the German manner, having regard to like sounding words at the end of each Verse.
1747 ‘J. C.’ Eng. & Portuguese Spelling-bk. 30 The Reason of the different Writing of such Like Sounding Words is this; they are all originally Latin Verbals.
1839 Foreign Q. Rev. 22 437 Repetition of the same word, and like-sounding terminations, were particularly affected in songs set to Phrygian music.
1908 Econ. Rev. 18 432 We have been hearing a great deal lately about..‘the spirit of the age’, and like-sounding phrases.
2011 Anthropol. Q. 84 154 The name of the King, and of like sounding words, were taboo until his death.
like-sized adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective]
ylikeeOE
likeOE
anlikeOE
accordanta1325
of a (also one) mouldc1330
kindred1340
lichy1370
likelyc1384
alikea1393
ontinkela1400
evenly?c1400
similable?a1440
semble1449
of a sort1463
seemable1501
uniform1548
resembled1553
self-like1556
like-natured1566
resembling1573
kindlike1579
of the same, that, every, etc. feather1581
resemblant1581
marrow1585
similar1586
like-seeming1590
twin-like1599
connatural1601
similary1610
semblativea1616
otherlike1620
like-shaped1640
connate1641
homogeneous1641
consimilar1645
congenerous1646
resemblancing1652
congeniousa1656
congenerate1657
equaliform1660
congenial1669
similitive1678
symbolizant1685
synonymous1690
of akin1723
consimilary1736
like-sized1742
cogeneric1777
alike as a row of pins1785
congenerica1834
Siamese1833
congener1867
lak1881
sorty1885
homoeomorphic1902
homogenized1958
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > [adjective] > equal or matching
sized1700
like-sized1742
1742 H. Baker Microscope made Easy ii. viii. 113 Heaps of such like-siz'd minute Globules.
1896 R. R. Dolling Ten Years in Portsmouth Slum v. 61 Our salaries do not compare favourably with those in like-sized towns.
2013 Tampa Bay (Florida) Times (Nexis) 20 Oct. (Business section) d1 Duke has become the largest power company in the United States. With a like-sized wallet and ego.
b.
† like-jamb n. Obsolete rare (Robert Record's name for) a parallelogram.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [noun] > two-dimensional > quadrilateral > parallelogram
like-jamb1551
parallelogram1570
supplement1570
1551 R. Record Pathway to Knowl. i. Defin. Those squares which haue their sides al equal, may be called..likesides,..and those that haue only the contrary sydes equal,..those wyll I call likeiammys, for a difference.
† like-side n. Obsolete rare (Robert Record's name for) a rhombus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [noun] > two-dimensional > quadrilateral > rhombus
like-side1551
lozenge1551
rhombus?a1560
rhomboid1570
rhomboides1570
rhomb1578
1551 R. Record Pathway to Knowl. i. Defin. Those squares which haue their sides al equal, may be called..likesides,..and those that haue only the contrary sydes equal,..those wyll I call likeiammys, for a difference.
C2. Compounds of the adverb.
a.
(a) In adjectives with participles, as like-made, like-persuaded, like-thinking, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > [adjective] > reproducing or repeating in a copy > repeated in a copy
reiterate?a1425
like1588
reduplicated1598
reduplicate?1609
ingeminate1637
ectypal1642
extypal1678
1588 C. Lucar Appendix 45 in tr. N. Tartaglia 3 Bks. Shooting How with a Ladle you may geue vnto any Fauconet, Faucon, Minion, Saker, Culueringe, Basiliske, Cannon, or any other like made Peece his due charge in gunpowder.
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 489 Wedded to a vow I made to one, whose breach of his like-made-one to me cannot yet vnmarry me.
1691 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. 57 The warm influence of a like-perswaded Princes Favour.
1712 H. Ditton Disc. Resurrection Jesus App. 545 The Cases of Apoplectick or other like affected Persons.
1811 T. F. Dibdin Bibliomania (ed. 2) v. 394 He was mentioned with Peacham as being a like accomplished character.
1991 P. J. O'Rourke Parl. of Whores (1992) 194 There's a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause.
(b) With agent nouns, denoting a person who has similar beliefs or ideas, as like-believer, like-thinker.
ΚΠ
1850 Eclectic Rev. Mar. 350 Mr. Buckingham, and like thinkers, propose to induce the very men to quit the ranks of society who are of all men the most necessary to its progress and improvement.
1862 Sunday at Home 3 May 274/2 I will say so far as that thou seest a like believer in Michael Angelo Buonarroti.
1985 F. O'Neill Agents of Sympathy vii. 77 Requests, from a like-thinker, from an ally, for secret information.
2007 D. F. Kelley Relig. Contemp. Native Amer. v. 163 The Church itself is a structured community of like believers.
b.
† like-feelingly adv. poetic Obsolete rare with feelings of the same nature or quality.
ΚΠ
1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 355 He Yet feels the frailties of the things He has made; And therefore can, like-feelingly, them judge.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

likev.1

Brit. /lʌɪk/, U.S. /laɪk/
Forms: Old English lician, Old English likian (rare), Old English lycian (rare), early Middle English lice, early Middle English licie, early Middle English licke, early Middle English likenn ( Ormulum), early Middle English likie, early Middle English lycie, early Middle English lykie, early Middle English lykye, Middle English leke, Middle English ligede (past tense, transmission error), Middle English lijk, Middle English lik, Middle English liki, Middle English likke, Middle English liky, Middle English lykey, Middle English lykke, Middle English lyky, Middle English–1500s lycke, Middle English–1600s lyk, Middle English–1600s lyke, Middle English– like, 1500s likte (past participle), 1500s leek, 1500s lycke, 1500s leyck, 1500s–1600s leeke, 1800s lauk (English regional (Yorkshire)), 1800s lick (English regional (Cheshire), Irish English (Wexford)), 1800s loike (English regional (Leicestershire)); Scottish pre-1700 leyk, pre-1700 liek, pre-1700 lik, pre-1700 liken (past participle), pre-1700 lyck, pre-1700 lyik, pre-1700 lyk, pre-1700 lykkyt (past tense), pre-1700 1700s lick, pre-1700 1700s– like, pre-1700 1800s lyke, 1800s leyk, 1800s–1900s lake, 1800s– laek (Shetland), 1800s– lek (Caithness and Shetland), 1900s loike; U.S. regional (chiefly southern and in African-American usage) 1700s loike, 1800s– lack, 1800s– lak, 1900s– luk. N.E.D (1903) also records forms Middle English lyki, Middle English lykky. Compare ylike v.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian līkia , Old Dutch līkon (Middle Dutch liken , Dutch lijken ), Old Saxon līkon (Middle Low German līken ), Old High German līhhēn , Gothic leikan < the Germanic base of like adj. Compare ylike v.The Germanic base. The Germanic base was originally a weak verb of Class III (belonging to a well-defined semantic subgroup of stative verbs; compare live v.1), but in most languages, including Old English, its descendants shifted (like many other Class III verbs) to Class II at an early date (prior to their respective first attestations), with only the Gothic and Old High German reflexes continuing to inflect as Class III verbs. Notes on syntax. In Old English the verb typically occurs in constructions with the person experiencing the emotion in the dative, either in impersonal construction (occasionally with non-referential it ) or with nominative of the thing liked (compare sense 1a). In the course of Middle English and early modern English, constructions with the person experiencing as subject increasingly establish themselves as predominant. The details of this development have been much discussed, and the syntactic analysis of some attested constructions is disputed, especially with regard to early Middle English (compare sense 4a). In some uses (e.g. sense 1c) early impersonal constructions may have been influenced by uses of e.g. classical Latin placēre to be pleasing (see placet int. and compare please v.), libet it pleases, it is pleasing (see quodlibet n.), which can both be used either absolutely or with dative. Competing verbs. In Old English (and early Middle English) like v.1 is the usual verb in impersonal constructions, while queem v. is more common in personal constructions (and constructions with the nominative of the thing liked). During the course of the Middle English period like v.1 comes to predominate in personal constructions, while from late Middle English onwards in impersonal constructions (and constructions with nominative of the thing liked) it in turn increasingly loses ground to please v. See discussion in M. Ogura Verbs in Medieval Eng. (1995) 124–6. Prefixed forms. In Old English the prefixed form gelīcian ylike v. is also attested; compare also mislīcian mislike v.1, oflīcian to displease, to be displeasing to (compare of- prefix).
I. To please.
1. Frequently with non-referential it as subject. Also occasionally impersonal.
a. transitive. To please, to be pleasing or agreeable to, to suit (someone). Now archaic.Originally with dative. In early use also intransitive with to, of, or till.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > quality of being pleasant or pleasurable > please or give pleasure to [verb (transitive)]
i-quemec893
ywortheOE
queemeOE
likeOE
likeOE
paya1200
gamec1225
lustc1230
apaya1250
savoura1300
feastc1300
comfort1303
glew1303
pleasec1350
ticklec1386
feedc1400
agreea1413
agreec1425
emplessc1450
gree1468
applease1470
complaire1477
enjoy1485
warm1526
to claw the ears1549
content1552
pleasure1556
oblect?1567
relish1567
gratify1569
sweeta1575
promerit1582
tinkle1582
tastea1586
aggrate1590
gratulatea1592
greeta1592
grace1595
arride1600
complease1604
honey1604
agrade1611
oblectate1611
oblige1652
placentiate1694
flatter1695
to shine up to1882
fancy-
OE Blickling Homilies 129 Æghwylc man, sy þær eorðan þær he sy, þurh gode dæda Gode lician sceal.
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 360 God nele þæt we..forwurpan ure æhta, ac dælan hi mid gesceade swa swa hit drihtne licie.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 29 Þane he wile don oðer queðen hwat him þanne licað after defles lore.
a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 63 God..ȝife us swa his wil to donne þet we gode likie and monne.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 187 Efterward ase merci likeþ to god alsuo hit ne likeþ noþing to þe dyeule.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. l. 2381 (MED) Venus..as men drawe Of Rageman upon the chance, Sche leith no peis in the balance, Bot as hir lyketh forto weie.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iv. pr. vi. l. 4004 Þe victories cause liked [emended in ed. to likede] to þe goddes and causes ouercomen liked [emended in ed. to likede] to catoun.
a1450 in T. Austin Two 15th-cent. Cookery-bks. (1888) 31 Take Porke or Beef, wheþer þe lykey, & leche it þinne þwerte.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) i. 505 It likit till his will.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Esther i. B The kynge had commaunded..that euery one shulde do as it lyked him.
1577 W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) ii. ix. i. 201 To give his roiall consent to such statutes as him liketh of.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII i. i. 100 Like it your Grace, The State takes notice. View more context for this quotation
a1633 Visct. Falkland Hist. Edward II (1680) 87 How that way may like you, that I know not.
c1660 R. Carpenter Pragmatical Jesuit v. iii. 58/2 None of it likes me. By all signs and tokens this must be she.
1767 B. Thornton tr. Plautus Treasure iii. v, in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies II. 55 Hold—I have a thought;—See, if it likes you.
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 405 They are free, And howl and war as likes them.
1823 J. Galt Entail I. xviii. 151 But he may wise it awa as it likes him to do, for he's noo past one-and-twenty.
1861 D. G. Rossetti tr. Dante Vita Nuova in Early Ital. Poets ii. 236 I rode sullenly Upon a certain path that liked me not.
1915 S. Leacock Moonbeams from Larger Lunacy xvi. 266 ‘Here also this likes me, 'tis shrewdly devised,’ and here he placed his finger on a particular spot on the news sheet.
1989 P. Wrede Snow White & Rose Red v. 53 ‘Thou hast the right of it,’ Rosamund said grudgingly, ‘though it likes me not.’
†b. transitive. With well (also bet, better, best). Also with ill: to displease. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > quality of being pleasant or pleasurable > please or give pleasure to [verb (transitive)]
i-quemec893
ywortheOE
queemeOE
likeOE
likeOE
paya1200
gamec1225
lustc1230
apaya1250
savoura1300
feastc1300
comfort1303
glew1303
pleasec1350
ticklec1386
feedc1400
agreea1413
agreec1425
emplessc1450
gree1468
applease1470
complaire1477
enjoy1485
warm1526
to claw the ears1549
content1552
pleasure1556
oblect?1567
relish1567
gratify1569
sweeta1575
promerit1582
tinkle1582
tastea1586
aggrate1590
gratulatea1592
greeta1592
grace1595
arride1600
complease1604
honey1604
agrade1611
oblectate1611
oblige1652
placentiate1694
flatter1695
to shine up to1882
fancy-
the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > be displeased with [verb (transitive)] > displease
mislikeeOE
ofthinkeOE
misquemeOE
likec1175
forthinka1225
mispay?c1225
annoyc1300
there glads (also gains, games) him no gleec1300
unpay1340
offenda1382
to be displeasedc1386
to step or tread on the toes ofc1394
mispleasea1400
unlikea1425
edgec1450
injurea1492
discontenta1513
disdain1530
to set (a person's) teeth on edge1535
displeasure1541
mis-set?1553
dislike1578
to tread on any one's heels or toes1710
flisk1792
unentrance1834
to tread on any one's cornsa1855
umbragea1894
OE Beowulf (2008) 639 Ðam wife þa word wel licodon, gilpcwide Geates.
OE Writ of Cnut to People of Eng. (York) v. 273 Þa cydde man me, þæt us mara hearm to fundode, þonne us wel licode.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 18279 & tet maȝȝ ille likenn.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 13345 Ȝif us oht ilimpeð we him þa bet likieð.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 4362 Hit þe likede wel þat þu us a-dun læidest.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 4029 Ille liked ðanne balaac Euerilc word ðe prest balaam spac.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 76 Wan he was war of þe frenschemen on h[ert] him likid ille.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1782 Bot if ȝe haf a lemman, a leuer, þat yow lykeȝ better.
c1450 (?a1400) Duke Rowland & Sir Otuell (1880) l. 810 There es no mache vn-to mee, And þat me lykes ille.
1534 N. Udall Floures for Latine Spekynge gathered oute of Terence f. 178v Him selfe woll shewe you, that he hath sene your doughter, and that hir beautie or fauour lyked him wel.
1596 T. Danett tr. P. de Commynes Hist. ii. x. 70 They salied foorth where liked them best by the breaches thereof.
1608 Yorkshire Trag. sig. B3v Good sir, keep but in patience and I hope My words shall like you well.
1668 S. Pepys Diary 22 Nov. (1976) IX. 372 My boy's Livery is come home..and it likes me well enough.
1767 B. Thornton tr. Plautus Treasure ii. i, in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies II. 16 Good! it likes me well, I'll do so.
1799 W. Wordsworth Ruth 209 Where it liked her best she sought Her shelter.
1808 W. Scott Marmion vi. xv. 339 At first in heart it liked me ill.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xii. 103 I wish any respected bachelor that reads this may take the sort that best likes him.
1896 S. R. Crockett Grey Man ix I had another part of the piece still to play, and the doing of it liked me even better.
1902 Overland Monthly Nov. 482/2 ‘And now that you've got the town,..how does it please you?’ ‘It likes me well and always.’ I replied.
†c. intransitive without complement. To please; to be pleasing, agreeable, or approved. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > quality of being pleasant or pleasurable > be pleasant or enjoyable [verb (intransitive)]
likeeOE
pleasea1393
savoura1400
payc1400
savourc1440
relish1594
smile1594
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) lix. 449 Hi licettað, & woldon lician for manna eagum utane buton godum weorcum innane.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. ix. 424 Forðy sceolde ælc m[o]n bion on ðæm wel gehealden þæt he on [his] agnum earde licode.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) (1934) 6 (MED) Licomes lust..lutle while likeð.
c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 98 Senne hys swete and lykeþ, Wanne a man hi deþ.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. xvi. 6 Lo! thi seruauntesse is in thin hond; vse thou hir as it likith [L. ut libet].
1540 J. Palsgrave tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus ii. i. sig. Iiii Go to, let it be, or be it a scorne or a mock, syns it lyketh so syns such is thy plesure.
1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse Prol. 94 in Wks. II If this Play doe not like, the Diuell is in't.
†2. intransitive and transitive (reflexive). To please oneself; to take pleasure or delight in something. Obsolete.In intransitive use, resembling the later intransitive developments of Branch II. (cf. sense 7a).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > take pleasure or enjoy oneself [verb (reflexive)]
likeOE
joyc1260
litea1300
to please to oneselfa1382
relish1580
contentc1600
complease1604
pleasurea1640
enjoy1653
the mind > emotion > pleasure > be pleased with [verb (transitive)] > take pleasure in or enjoy
likeOE
joyc1330
love1340
fruishc1450
enjoy1462
to enjoy of?1521
to have the honour1525
relish1580
jouise1598
taste1605
palate1609
to get a kick out of1928
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark i. 11 Tu es filius meus dilectus, in te complacui : ðu arð sunu min leaf on ðec ic wel licade.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 177 Me ȝeneȝeþ wel ofte..be þe nase ine to moche him to liky in guode smelles.
a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) xxxvi. 4 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 167 Like in lauerd [L. delectare in Domino] and gife sal he Þe askinges of þi herte to þe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 19232 Ilk suik it-self bisuikes, And lethes mast þat þar-in likes.
a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 52 Loke þat your oxon be dayly made clene..þen þey shall lyke þem selfe þe better.
1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus Praise of Folie sig. Fijv Yet dooe these my old gurles not a little lyke their selves herein.
†3. transitive. In interrogative contexts with how: to make (a favourable or unfavourable) impression on. Also impersonal. Cf. sense 9. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1200 (?OE) Grave (1890) l. 19 (MED) Nefst ðu nenne freond, þe þe wylle faren to, Ðæt efre wule lokien, hu þe þet hus þe likie.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 46 An feble mon..wule iseon ȝeunge ancres & lokin neode as stan hu hire wlite him likeð.
c1450 King Ponthus (Digby) in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. (1897) 12 79 Madame, howe likes you the kyng of Irlond?
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 18 (MED) My fader asked me, ‘how likithe you?’.. And y tolde my fader how me liked.
II. To take pleasure in or be pleased by something.
4.
a. transitive. To find (something) pleasing or agreeable; to enjoy, have a taste for or take pleasure in (a thing, activity, condition, etc.). In early use, frequently with well. Also in †to like ill: to dislike.Often contrasted (as expressing a weaker sentiment) with love.In early use, where the nominal arguments lack case marking, it is not possible to be certain whether this construction or that of sense 1 is shown (which may be the way in which this sense first developed). For a parallel development of comparable date, cf. mislike v.1 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > have liking for [verb (transitive)]
loveOE
likea1200
to have a mind1530
affect1582
relish1600
fancy1616
adore1883
to have tickets on1908
fancify-
the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > be displeased with [verb (transitive)]
mislikea1225
displease1377
to take agrief?a1400
to take in grievinga1400
to like illc1425
to take grief witha1556
mind1562
disconceit1625
to take heinously1632
mistake1725
lump1833
thank1874
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 95 Mildheorted beð þe man þe reouð his nehgebures unselðe, and likeð here alre selðe.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 2039 Conan þe kinges neueu ne likede noȝt þis game.
c1390 W. Hilton Expos. Qui habitat & Bonum Est (1954) 8 (MED) He made me loþen þat þat i most lyked.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iii. l. 2847 (MED) Þe whiche stroke he lyked ful ille.
a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 133 (MED) My Lady..was wel plesyd wyth þe & lykyd wel thy wordys.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. cvv Be that schir wawane the wy likit the wer.
1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine ii. x. 215 They liked the wine, but not the reckoning which was to be paid for it.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 171 I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers less, Now both abhor. View more context for this quotation
1715 R. South 12 Serm. IV. 344 Where a Man neither loves, nor likes the Thing he believes.
1781 W. Cowper Truth 210 He likes your house, your housemaid, and your pay.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian i, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. IV. 10 Maybe ye may like the ewe-milk..cheese better.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 50 Most persons say that lawgivers should make such laws as the people like.
1920 L. L. Hope Bobbsey Twins in Great West xix. 210 They had been on the ranch about a month, and were liking it more and more every day.
1980 G. Harper in M. Danby Entertaining with Stars 33 Almost everybody likes the occasional glass of port or cherry brandy.
2013 G. Albin Altered xvi. 143 Kincaid likes the geisha aesthetic.
b. With infinitive as object. Also with for to and infinitive (now colloquial and regional (chiefly U.S.)).
(a) transitive. To find it agreeable or pleasant, or to feel inclined, to be or do something.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > wish or be disposed or inclined [verb]
willeOE
listc1200
to be of (also in) (a) minda1325
to will well that1340
likea1375
to find in one's hearta1393
to have a minda1400
pleasec1450
set1470
to have a mind1530
care1560
fadge1592
please1611
choose1622
offer1639
to feel like1808
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 5528 Ȝe þat liken in loue swiche þinges to here.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Melibeus (Hengwrt) (2003) §96 Whan Dame Prudence ful debonairly & wt gret pacience hadde herd al that hir housbonde liked for to seye.
1426 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 6 Þe gret tendrenesse ye lyke to haue of þe saluacion of my symple honeste.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) i. l. 33 Quha likis till haif mar knowledge in that part.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) i. 445 Lordingis quha likis for till her, Ye romanys now begynnys her.
1528 S. Gardiner in N. Pocock Rec. Reformation (1870) I. l. 112 His holiness for pastime liked well to hear thereof.
1568 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xlviii. 1 Off cullouris cleir quha lykis to weir, Ar sindry sortis in to this toun.
1598 tr. J. de Serres Hist. Coll. 21 Nauarre holds play, and likest for to winne.
1611 Bible (King James) Rom. i. 28 They did not like [Gk. οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν] to retaine God in their knowledge. View more context for this quotation
1694 F. Atterbury Scorner Incapable of Wisdom 14 He is already under the Dominion and Power of his Lust; and perhaps likes to be so.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xix. 102 Sending me what you think I shall like to see, out of those Papers you chuse not to shew me collectedly.
?1793 ‘Yorick’ Dr—yt—n Rev. 35 I declare I should like for to lay some large Betts.
1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park I. vi. 112 ‘Mr Rushworth,’ said Lady Bertram, ‘if I were you, I would have a very pretty shrubbery. One likes to get out into a shrubbery in fine weather.’
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. vi. 102 I like to see a fellow an honest grubber at breakfast and dinner.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. ii. 53 She liked to be curtsied and bowed to by all the congregation.
1919 H. Walpole Secret City iii. xv. 435 No young man likes to be discovered hidden behind a coat-rack.
2014 New Yorker 24 Nov. 71/1 Ek describes himself as a ‘missionary’, by which he means he likes to formulate five-year missions for himself.
(b) transitive. With would or should: to want, wish, prefer, or feel inclined to be or do something. Also used to express scornful disbelief or disapproval, as I should like to see, I should like to know, etc.This construction is implicitly conditional (with the infinitive clause embodying the condition).
ΚΠ
1678 J. Barret Christian Temper 20 But how few that would like to hear of their Sins.
1706 Whole Duty Christian ii. xx. 150 How great this Injury is, we may best judge by considering how little we should like to be serv'd so.
1769 F. Gentleman Stratford Jubilee ii. 17 For my own part, I should like to stay and see the fun.
1819 P. B. Shelley Julian & Maddalo 199 If you would like to go, We'll visit him.
1822 ‘B. Truck’ Man-of-war's-man in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 18/2 What the devil else could he mean, I should like for to know, by beastly but lousy?
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxi. 336 [Mr. Gunter threatens to throw Mr. Noddy out of window] ‘I should like to see you do it, Sir,’ said Mr. Noddy.
1874 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera IV. xxxix. 68 I should like to have somebody for a help.
1905 Northwestern Christian Advocate 20 Dec. 14/1 Would 'ee like for to have one?
1933 ‘B. Ross’ Trag. of Z ii. 33 There's many a woman who would have liked to jab a knife into him.
1970 R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 83/1 Sometimes I feel that there's nobody I'd like to look good for, except sometimes I feel that I'd like to be really attractive.
1974 M. Butterworth Man in Sopwith Camel xiii. 163 I have my Polaroid here and I'd like for to take a picture.
2003 H. Holt Death in Pract. (2004) vi. 86 I've never approved of all this drinking out of mugs. What's wrong with a nice cup and saucer, I'd like to know!
c. transitive. With gerund or verbal noun as object: to enjoy, have a taste for, or take pleasure in (an action, activity, condition, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > have liking for [verb (transitive)] > have a taste or fancy for
like1655
1655 J. Davies tr. M. de Scudéry Clelia I. iii. 81 Perhaps she may like [Fr. trouuera-t'elle..de douceur] being in Rome, as wel as in Campania.
1701 Impartial Acct. of Life James II 7 The People..did by no means like being aw'd by Armed Force.
1757 D. Garrick Male-coquette i. 27 If you like reading, there's Infidelity, and baudy Novels for you.
1824 M. M. Sherwood Waste Not ii. 5 How do you like being boxed up with the old lady?
1898 G. B. Shaw You never can Tell i. 233 Oh, if you like being hurt, all right.
1914 D. H. Lawrence Prussian Officer & Other Stories 104 He sang in the choir because he liked singing.
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited ii. i. 198 I had chosen to do what I could do well,..and liked doing.
1980 Observer 22 June 12 I don't like being recognised in the street.
2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane v. 101 She liked shopping at Taj Stores, where she could buy every ingredient she needed to cook Indian food.
5. intransitive. In a subordinate clause introduced by as or an interrogative word, with infinitive verb or object understood: to wish to do or have; to choose, prefer. Esp. in to do as one likes: to act according to one's wishes or preferences. Occasionally also in clauses of other kinds, usually anaphorically.
ΚΠ
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 214 (MED) Hosen wið ute vampez, ligge in hwa se likeð [a1250 Titus like].
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 1009 Sche..him graunted to worche wiþ hire al his wille as he wel liked.
a1500 (a1450) Generides (Trin. Cambr.) l. 2010 (MED) Do as ye leke, for this is my councell.
1539 R. Morison Invective ayenste Treason sig. Avi Rede the place, ye shall perceyue howe god louethe, where he lyketh.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 152 Euerie ane mycht marie how mony wyfes he lyket.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxi. 125 He may either go or stay, as he best likes.
1733 Let. to Friend occasioned by Chandler's Hist. Persecution 11 Let others stand or sit as they like.
1756 G. Washington Let. 8 Sept. in Writings (1931) I. 463 Your Honor will be pleased to do as you like in the affair.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty v. 187 A person should be free to do as he likes in his own concerns.
1884 Manch. Examiner 28 May 5/2 Those critics..maintain that we are free to do as we like in Egypt.
1920 S. Jameson Happy Highways iv. 237 I don't want you. You can go where you damn well like, and do what you like. I'm done with you.
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited i. vi. 145 What I used to fear was that he just got drunk deliberately when he liked and because he liked.
1969 Asian Surv. 9 350 Do whatever you like, my child, but whatever you do, become rich.
2009 R. Melikan Counterfeit Guest iii. 33 She..suspected that Mary would do as she liked as soon as Mrs. Tipton's eyes were closed.
†6. intransitive. In negative contexts, chiefly with ill: to be displeased or sad. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > feel sorrow or grief [verb (intransitive)]
sorroweOE
sorryeOE
careOE
heavyOE
mournOE
rueOE
murkenOE
dole13..
likec1330
wailc1374
ensorrowc1384
gloppen?a1400
sytea1400
teena1400
grievec1400
angera1425
erme1481
yearna1500
aggrieve1559
discomfort?a1560
melancholyc1580
to eat one's (own) heart1590
repent1590
passion1598
sigh1642
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 1151 Þei marke liked ille.
c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 500 Þerl for him sori was, Þer liked non in that plas [c1475 Caius That it liked noon in that place].
c1410 (c1350) Gamelyn (Harl. 7334) l. 618 And Adam þe Spenser liked ful ylle.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxvii. 359 Ye ar all heuy and lykys yll Here in this way.
1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 39 Be that it drew to the nicht, The King lykit ill.
1669 Hist. Sir Eger 42 A little while then lay he still, Friends that him saw liked full ill.
†7.
a. intransitive. With of, by, or with. To derive pleasure or enjoyment from (a person or thing). In early use also to like ill of: to dislike. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > be pleased with [verb (transitive)]
belovec1275
likea1393
agreec1450
pleasea1522
belike1547
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > favour > win favour with [verb (transitive)] > favour
to let well ofc1330
favour1340
to take, accept, receive in greec1374
likea1393
smilec1400
to take agreea1425
agreec1450
to fawn on, upon1477
to bear good mind toa1516
to look upon ——c1515
to look on ——1540
vouchsafe1582
conceit1589
relish1594
to look to ——1611
impatronize1629
aspect1663
sympathize1828
to put one's money on1847
the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > have liking for [verb (transitive)] > derive pleasure from or approve of
likea1393
lovec1450
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. l. 21 That of the lasse or of the more Som man mai lyke of that I wryte.
a1450 Generides (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) l. 3124 (MED) Of this message he liked yll.
1465 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 297 I vnderstode he lykyd not by hys dysposicyon.
1565 A. Golding tr. Caesar Martiall Exploytes in Gallia iv. f. 97 One Comius..whose counsel and valeantnes he liked well of.
a1592 R. Greene Hist. Orlando Furioso (1594) sig. Bv Daughter, like of whom thou please.
1643 H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 98 He..began to like better of his employment.
1672 Sir C. Lyttelton in E. M. Thompson Corr. Family of Hatton (1878) I. 100 Ye King likes soe well of Sr T. L. that he will not think yet of sending another.
1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation xliv. 450 They hoped..that their Prince..would like well with this their Doing.
1764 R. Burn Hist. Poor Laws 77 If any beggar's child..shall be liked of by any subject of this realm of honest calling.
1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams I. viii. 171 If so be as you like of the match, why I am your man.
b. intransitive. English regional. To approve of. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > approve of, accept, or sanction [verb (transitive)]
loveeOE
underfoc1000
underfong?c1225
undertakea1250
provec1300
allowa1325
favour1340
approvec1380
seem?c1450
conprovec1503
avow1530
rectify1567
annuate1585
to be for1590
sancite1597
improve1603
applauda1616
acclamate1624
resenta1646
own1649
comprobate1660
sanction1797
likea1825
approbate1833
to hold with (arch. of, on, for)1895
agree1900
endorse1914
condone1962
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Like of, to approve. ‘My master will not like of it.’
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words I. 397 I daredn't do't; my master wouldn't like of it.
1906 C. M. Doughty Dawn in Brit. III. ix. 46 The lord liked of the waggoner's bold speech.
8. transitive. To feel an attraction to or a favourable regard or fondness for (a person or group of people).Often contrasted (as expressing a weaker sentiment) with love.
ΚΠ
c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1076 And for he was a straunger sumwhat sche Likede hym the bet.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 611/2 I can nat lyke hym better than I do.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. ix. sig. Ll4v Yet euery one her likte, and euery one her lou'd.
1621 J. Reynolds Triumphs Gods Revenge: 1st Bk. iv. 117 Vermandero..was secretly informed of Alsemero's affection to his daughter, and withall, that shee liked him farre better then Piracquo: which newes was indeed..displeasing to him, because he perfectly knew that Piracquo's meanes farre exceed that of Alsemero.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 79. ⁋4 My Lover does not know I like him.
1766 I. Bickerstaff Plain Dealer iv. ix. 76 He had vanity enough to think I liked him.
1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility III. vi. 118 She liked him..upon the whole much better than she had expected.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxiii. 79 I may like him well enough; but you don't love your servants.
1927 F. M. Thrasher Gang iii. xviii. 350 George..was an outstanding personality; even his enemies liked him.
1989 W. Deverell Mindfield 94 I don't like you, Johnny.
2012 F. Robyn Most Beautiful Thing 287 She was an older woman, schoolmarm-ish but with a mischievous glint in her eye. Joe liked her a lot.
9. transitive. In interrogative contexts with how: to feel about, regard.
ΚΠ
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 47 Or how ȝe like lif to leid in to lell spousage?
1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xx. f. cxliiiiv Now good readers here be now hys owne wordes wyth hys owne exposycion therin. And how lyke you them now?
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. v. 67 How doost thou like the Lord Bassanios wife? View more context for this quotation
1673 R. Allestree Ladies Calling i. §5. 83 How she that has fed delicatly, would like to be desolate in the street.
1699 A. Boyer Royal Dict. at Trouver Comment le trouvez-vous? How do you like it?
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 9 How do you like this Tea, Colonel?
1796 J. G. Holman Abroad & at Home iii. ii. 69 I'm a married man... I wonder how I shall like it!
a1822 P. B. Shelley Cyclops in Posthumous Poems (1824) 351 How does the God like living in a skin?
1860 Ld. Tennyson Sea Dreams 194 How like you this old satire?
1931 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 14/1 If they don't like progress, cut off their water main, electricity, papers, and radio and see how they like that!
1952 T. Armstrong Adam Brunskill iv. 104 ‘How do you like me, Cousin Adam?’ she asked.
2001 R. Isaacson Healing Land xi. 170 Tea and biscuits arrived and Cynthia asked me how I liked the Kalahari.
10. To want or prefer (something to be done or to happen); (also) to be pleased with or enjoy (a situation or fact). Frequently with should or would (cf. sense 4b(b)).
a. transitive. With that-clause as object.
ΚΠ
a1535 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. (1557) 1290/2 Such as are lerned, will like also, that..I should first shew farther some other poyntes.
1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xxvii. xii. 1104 I like that you distill them in copper vessells, for you neede not feare that the oyle which is distilled by them will contract an ill quality from the copper.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Devil's guts, a surveyor's chain, so called by farmers, who do not like their land should be measured by their landlords.
1822 J. Hogg Three Perils of Man II. 91 I wadna like that we were trowed to be corbie messengers.
1834 W. J. Neale Will Watch (1835) II. i. 15 Though Sir John and I do own the whole of Dock, yet I like that every thing should go fair and square and independent, as ye call it.
1837 H. Lawrence Jrnl. 8 Dec. (1980) 70 I should like that our tent had more of the method and neatness of this.
1983 B. Schneider Flight Lines iv. in Flight Lines & Crossings 27 I like that you're painting something else besides birds.
2010 Independent on Sunday 17 Oct. (New Review) 33/2 He liked that I was artistic.
b. transitive. With direct object and present or past participle as complement.
ΚΠ
1705 J. Browne Secret Hist. Queen Zarah 54 She did not like the Queen taking upon her so much.
1787 European Mag. & London Rev. Feb. 73/2 She [sc. an elephant] did not like the Koomkeys [sc. tame female elephants] coming near her.
1806 in R. Huish Mem. Late Majesty Caroline (1821) I. 208 I did not like Captain Manby coming so often, and staying so late, and I was uneasy at it.
1842 J. H. Newman Lett. & Corr. (1891) II. 393 Would he like the subject discussed in newspapers?
1849 C. Dickens David Copperfield (1850) v. 49 Our people don't like things being ordered and left.
1928 J. Galsworthy Swan Song iii. xiv. 332 I did wonder whether he would like Mrs. Irene told.
1974 O. Manning Rain Forest ii. i. 141 Her nibs don't like me calling him ‘old bugger’.
1981 R. Dawson Confucius iv. 51 Reciprocity—the virtue of not doing to others that which we would not like done to ourselves.
1997 A. Sivanandan When Memory Dies ii. iv. 172 I didn't like him yelling at me.
c. transitive. With direct object and infinitive.
ΚΠ
1801 G. Culley Let. 23 July in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 178 I would not like them to know anything of it.
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. vii. 69 It was Blanche who..asked him..whether he liked women to hunt?
1887 S. Colvin Keats viii. 207 The sonatas of Haydn were the music he liked Severn best to play to him.
1895 Argosy Dec. 212/2 If he is [crazy], I'd like a few more lunatics to step my way!
1923 Humorist 15 Sept. 190/2 I like a man to have nice eyes too. And I like him to have a moustache as well.
1947 E. Berridge Tell it to Stranger (2000) 46 He saw the manager of the works, and his new, almost jaunty confidence, got him the job. ‘I like fellows to be keen,’ said the manager.
2002 B. Hoff House on Point 229 She..isn't as formidable as she likes people to think she is.
d. intransitive. With for and infinitive clause as complement. Now colloquial.
ΚΠ
1839 F. Trollope Widow Married in New Monthly Mag. June 178 I really should like for aunt Barnaby—Mrs. O'Donagough I mean—I really should like for her to see them, Hubert.
1879 B. J. L. Adams Madelon Lemoine xxi. 234 Mattie don't buss' my hair a bit nice; I don't like for Mattie to buss' mine hair.
1954 R. Jarrell Pictures from Inst. iii. 90 She liked for writers to come of sturdy English stock.
1991 A. D. Foster Cat-a-lyst xx. 314 You are, as the film lingo says, a draw. So we would like for you to work for us.
2007 Sharp Edge June 41/2 I do like to be, for lack of a better word, bosomy—I like for things to be in your face.
11. intransitive. To experience attraction to or affection for someone or pleasure in something.
ΚΠ
1577 T. Kendall tr. Politianus et al. Flowers of Epigrammes f. 43v A Woman fawnes, and doth intrap,..She fawnes, giues, askes, she likes, she lothes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. ii. 7 If you like else-where doe it by stealth. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 587 Till in the amorous Net Fast caught, they lik'd, and each his liking chose. View more context for this quotation
a1742 J. Hammond Love Elegies (1743) vii. 10 They met, they lik'd, they stay'd but till alone.
1762 St. James's Mag. Nov. 159 She looks, she likes, she eats, And now he clasps her to his breast.
1808 W. Scott Marmion v. Introd. 231 Looking [he] liked, and liking loved.
1984 M. Campbell in L. Wevers N.Z. Short Stories 4th Ser. 10 ‘Oh, Mag, it's gorgeous!’ said Mother, enviously... ‘You like? It turned out quite well didn't it?’
2010 K. C. Bacus Calamity Jayne & Fowl Play at Fair vi. 49 ‘You like,’ he said, not a question, but an affirmation.
12. transitive. To respond favourably to; to thrive or perform well in (specific conditions) or with (the use of specific materials or techniques). Cf. sense 17. Chiefly with reference to plants.
ΚΠ
1607 J. Norden Surueyors Dialogue v. 241 It is the nature of Furse, Broome, and Brakes, to keepe their standing, and hardly wil yeeld the possession once gotten in a field: for commonly they like the soyle wel, and the soyle them.
a1699 T. Nourse Campania Fœlix (1700) vii. 123 Orles are great Growers where they like their Soil, which commonly is a boggy and marshy Ground.
1775 W. Kenrick et al. tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Animals, Veg., & Minerals III. 119 These animals [sc. rhinoceros]..like damp and marshy places, and seldom leave the banks of rivers.
1798 C. Marshall Introd. Knowl. & Pract. Gardening (ed. 2) xix. 356 The proper, or mountain blue throatwort, likes the shade but must have a light dry soil.
1824 tr. C. C. Sturm Refl. Wks. God 26 Some plants..like the shade, and some luxuriate in the sunshine.
1896 Baily's Mag. July 73/2 The Niagara..is a boat that likes some breeze.
1914 W. J. Bean Trees & Shrubs Hardy in Brit. Isles II. 269 All the Pyruses like a loamy soil.
1992 Canad. Gardening May 21/1 Astilbe like damp conditions, not well-drained hillsides.
2002 R. Cox & D. Gigliotti 300, 000 Mile Car iii. 68 You should try several different brands of fuel to see if your car likes one better than the rest.
13. transitive. In a conditional construction, with should or would: to wish to have (something). Originally elliptical for like to have (sense 4b(b)).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [verb (transitive)]
willeOE
wilnec897
desirec1230
catcha1350
appetec1385
appetitec1385
to wait after ——1393
to set (also have, keep, turn) one's mind onc1450
list1545
exopt1548
to have a mind1553
desiderate1646
lust1653
to have eyes for1657
like1685
want1698
choose1766
to be stuck on1878
1685 W. Aglionby Painting Illustr. i. 19 I, for my part, should like a Colouring rather something Brown, but clear, than a bright gay one.
1693 tr. Hist. Fr. La Chaise 40 For my part, I should like a little Motion, a little Intrigue.
1695 W. Congreve Love for Love v. 78 I should like a Man of Wit for a Lover.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxxi. 165 Pray, step to the Gardener, and ask him to gather a Sallad for me to Dinner..and pray tell him, I should like a Cucumber too, if he has one.
1799 H. Pigott Emily Dundorne I. vii. 118 I think I would like a little more liberty.
a1822 P. B. Shelley tr. J. W. von Goethe Scenes from Faust in Posthumous Poems (1824) 399 Would you not like a broomstick?
1872 C. J. Lever Ld. Kilgobbin lxxviii in Cornhill Mag. Feb. 256 She would like more time to learn something more about yourself.
1918 A. Bennett Roll-call i. viii. 169 I should like a strawberry ice, and a lemon-squash.
1937 H. Jennings et al. May 12th Mass-observ. Day-surveys (1987) iv. 334 I found myself asking them if they would like a cup of tea as they must be cold—and they said they would.
2008 C. Buchanan God's Thunderbolt 190 A Vigilante placed the noose... ‘Any last requests..?’ ‘Yeah, damn it, I'd like a drink. And make it decent whiskey.’
14. intransitive. In a conditional construction with would or should, followed by a clause introduced by if: to be pleased or glad; to want or wish. Now nonstandard.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > be pleased [verb (intransitive)]
pleasea1382
agree?a1500
like1780
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [verb (intransitive)]
wilneOE
me lusteth1390
desire1393
lusta1400
like1780
lech1940
1780 Compl. Fabulist 105 The Father..told them he should like if they both looked in the glass every day.
1821 J. Galt Ayrshire Legatees ix. 58 I would therefore like if you will lend her a note.
1894 A. B. Gomme Trad. Games I. 330 Another girl..asks the girls one by one what they would like if they could obtain their desires.
a1910 ‘M. Twain’ Simon Wheeler, Detective (1963) vii. 104 This is a very strange thing. We should very much like if you would tell us more about it.
1963 Afr. Music 3 11 I would like if my short article could be taken as a traveller's account only.
2014 A. Todd After xlv. 226 I would really like if you could come with me.
15. transitive. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.) With for. To consider (a person) as the prime suspect in a criminal investigation.
ΚΠ
1957 O. Welles Touch of Evil (film script) 49 Schwartz Well, who do you like for the real killer..? Mike Too early to say... There's that ex-convict.
1987 D. Pendleton Assault on Rome vii. 78 Between the two of us, I liked him for a bank job down in Houston, six or seven months ago.
2007 L. D. Estleman Amer. Detective x. 91 ‘You know this gives him two motives for her killing, both biblical.’ ‘Wrath and greed,’ I said... ‘You really like him for it?’
16. transitive. In the context of social media: to express approval of or support for by clicking on a particular icon.
ΚΠ
2007 Emily in blog.friendfeed.com 31 Oct. (comment on blog, accessed 4 Apr. 2015) I like that I can like things.
2009 Irish Times 17 Oct. b5/5 It would be hard to ‘like’..anything on the Auschwitz Facebook page. It would feel wrong.
2011 N.Y. Times Mag. 27 Feb. 14/2 If you'd like to find out about my next endeavors, please ‘like’ me on Facebook.
2015 Traverse City (Mich.) Record-Eagle 27 May 8 c/1 (advt.) Be sure to like us on Facebook for regular updates.
†III. To be in a favourable condition.
17. intransitive. To thrive or do well. Chiefly with postmodifying adverbs, as well, better, etc. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > prosper or flourish [verb (intransitive)]
theec888
i-thee971
bloomc1175
flower?c1225
soundfula1300
fructifya1325
timea1325
to bear the bloom1330
flourisha1340
prosperc1350
thrive?a1366
blossom1377
cheve1377
burgeona1382
likec1400
upthrivec1440
avail1523
fadge1573
to bear a great, high or lofty sail1587
blow1610
to be (also stand) in state1638
fatten1638
sagaciate1832
to be going strong1855
c1400 Simonie (Peterhouse) (1991) 263 Amorow he taketh þe vryn and waggeþ in þe sunne, And seyþ, ‘Dame, blessed be God, þi maystre is iwonne,’ And lyketh.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxiiii It may fortune, there be some [sheep] that lyke nat & be weke.
1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health cxciv. 154 Children..liue and like better with that [milk], than with any other thing.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 500 Trees generally do like best that stand to the Northeast wind.
1615 W. Lawson Country Housewifes Garden (1626) 3 We meddle not with Apricocks nor Peaches, nor scarcely with Quinches, which will not like in our cold parts, vnlesse [etc.].
1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 296 Indigo..agrees with the soil, and likes and thrives there very well.
1689 J. Chetham Angler's Vade Mecum (ed. 2) xxxviii. 245 The Ponds where they like well.
18.
a. intransitive. In negative constructions: to be unhappy or uncomfortable. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1878 J. C. Hutchieson Village Voices 159 He drew Maggie closer; ‘Tell me,’ he said; ‘I dinna like,’ was her reply.
1929 in Sc. National Dict. (1965) VI. at Like ‘Why wull ye no daet?’ ‘Ah dinna lake.’
b. intransitive. English regional (Leicestershire) and U.S. regional (New England, south, and south Midland). To be happy or comfortable in a place, position, or situation. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) 186 Mr. S...said he hoped I should like and get on well.
1926 E. M. Roberts Time of Man 20 You'll like right well after you get broke to the ways of the place.

Phrases

P1. ironic. I like that: used as an expression of surprise, displeasure, or disgust, chiefly in response to poor behaviour or conduct.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > expressions of disapproval [phrase]
shamea1352
I like that1720
to go up (also down) one1909
it's (just) not on1935
a bit off1966
1720 J. Leigh Kensington-Gardens v. 93 Mel. I am marry'd already. Sir Van. The Deaux you are!—To who? Sir Pol. To me, young Fop;—And what then? Sir Van. To You!—I like that indeed.
1778 W. Kenrick Lady of Manor ii. 29 Modest reluctance! I like that truly! Maiden reserve! Ha! ha! ha! Little artful gypsey!
1848 E. Bennett Kate Clarendon xii. 78 ‘Unhand and let me go, if thou art a man!’ screamed Kate, in terror... ‘If I am a man! ha, ha! I like that! If I am a man!’
c1869 T. Taylor & A. W. Dubourg in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1973) III. 255 Lilian. Bertie, you are a duffer. In these [arithmetic] questions the strength is always presumed to be equal. Fitz-Urse. I like that. As if one fellow was ever just as strong as another fellow.
1927 A. B. Cox Mr. Priestley's Probl. ix. 146 ‘George, go and send them away.’ ‘Oh come,’ protested George. ‘I like that.’
1974 I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 73 ‘If we didn't stupefy ourselves with drink we wouldn't get so comatose.’ ‘I like that. You taught me to drink.’
2011 R. Scott Irresistible Earl iii. 43 ‘Well, I like that!’ Mrs. Price grumbled, her gaze following them. ‘Not even a fare thee well!’
P2. I like it, but it does not like me and variants: used to indicate something (usually food or drink) which a person enjoys but which has a negative or unpleasant effect on him or her.
ΚΠ
1800 R. Bisset Douglas III. vii. 204 I like's the roe very much, but it does not like me; it always gives me the cholic.
1843 Colonial Gaz. 28 Oct. 675/2 What the appetite craves will easily be digested..; the common complaint of—‘I like such a thing but it does not like me’, being referable to eating the relished article too hastily.
1905 Academy 15 Apr. 418/2 A man is dull if he fails to accept a chance of saying: ‘I like it but it does not like me,’ or ‘Last not least’.
1983 Daily Gate City (Keokuk, Iowa) 8 Apr. 6/5 Dear old Lionel does like his scotch, but it doesn't like him.
1999 C. Aherne et al. Royle Family Scripts: Series 2 (2000) Episode 2. 46 Will you take the grapefruit out of mine, I can't eat it. I like it, but it doesn't like me.
P3. if you like: if it suits or pleases you, if you wish to phrase or consider something in a particular manner. Often used with concessive or mildly apologetic force.In early use applied chiefly to rephrasings of previous statements.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adverb]
welleOE
possiblyc1400
possiblea1425
contingentlyc1430
potentiallyc1450
perhapsa1535
as and when1565
conceivably1625
if you like1813
1813 E. S. Barrett Heroine I. viii. 121 ‘How do you like my manners, Ignoramus?’ ‘How dare you call me Ignoramus?’ cried Jerry. ‘Blackguard if you like, but no ignoramus, I believe.’
1875 T. E. Bridgett Our Lady's Dowry ii. xi. 336 They were placed in churches by simple faith, or credulity if you like, but not by wilful fraud.
1909 W. H. Hudson Afoot in Eng. ii. 20 ‘What!’ I exclaimed. ‘Lady Y——: that funny old woman!’ ‘No—middle-aged,’ he corrected... ‘Very well, middle-aged if you like.’
1970 Sunday Times 15 Mar. (Colour Suppl.) 25/1 I could tell you some stories about Max... He was real blue if you like.
2009 J. Barnes in New Yorker 19 Oct. 74/3 I used the word ‘complicity’ a bit ago. I like the word. To me, it indicates an unspoken understanding between two people, a kind of pre-sense, if you like.
P4. like it or not: (as a sentence adverbial) indicating that something is inevitable or unavoidable, regardless of how one feels about it.
ΚΠ
1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 10 266 Did greatness e'er swallow so bitter a pill? But, like it or not, I must swallow it still!
1876 Chambers's Jrnl. Pop. Lit. 12 Feb. 111/1 I then realised that, like it or not, having once started, there was no help for it but to remain where I was for seventy-seven miles.
1919 Times 24 Nov. 16/4 The world knew that, like it or not, the Jews were going to try this experiment.
1970 P. Berton National Dream iv. i. 151 There was a seller's market in survey labour and, like it or not, Fleming and his staff had to retain incompetents.
2012 Time Out N.Y. 12 Jan. 64/2 Like it or not, you can't escape the guitar.
P5. I'd like to see (a person do something, or an event occur): used to express scepticism or scornful disbelief that the specified event (usually affecting the speaker) could ever take place. Esp. in I'd like to see you try.
ΚΠ
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan II. xiv. 21 ‘If you don't [hold your tongue], I'll give you somethin' to make you.’—‘You'll give me somethin' to make me! I'd like to see you try it.’
1859 Welcome Guest 28 May 331/1 ‘I hope Mr Onslow will put a stop to it.’ ‘He indeed! I should like to see him try; it's a free country.’
1887 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Feb. 4/2 I'd like to see her try to order me about!
1932 ‘B. Ross’ Trag. of X ii. v. 217 I'd like to see Fred Lyman take credit for this!.. Let me hear him open his yap!
1947 S. J. Perelman Acres & Pains xiii. 79 I'd like to see anyone get me into a hot, noisy night club.
2014 J. Lewis et al. Soulgasm for Men 63 The doctors wanted me to change my diet and to stop smoking and drinking period! Right! I'd like to see that happen.
2015 G. Philip Icefall 36 ‘If I didn't love you so much I'd have to kill you.’ ‘Yeah, yeah. I'd like to see you try.’
P6. to —— and like it: (usually with mandatory force) to do something, esp. something perceived as difficult or unpleasant, without complaint or with the appearance of willingness or enjoyment.
ΚΠ
1914 B. Tarkington Turmoil in Harper's Mag. Nov. 888/2 ‘He wants you to go back to the machine-shop and—’ ‘And—“like it”!’ said Bibbs.
1937 N.Y. Times 11 Apr. ii. 3/2 Come the revolution, he'll drink government rum and like it!
1971 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird ii. 21 I'll do it again, and you'll stand by and like it.
2008 H. Stamm & P. Nowalk Hollywood Assistants Handbk. ii. 44 There'll be no crying, whining, arguing, back talking, or fist fighting. You'll do what we say, and like it too.
P7. to know what one likes: see know v. Phrases 22. to like it or lump it: see lump v.2 2.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

likev.2

Brit. /lʌɪk/, U.S. /laɪk/
Forms: see like adj.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: like adj.
Etymology: < like adj. Compare Old Frisian līkia to resemble, to compare, to make alike, Middle Dutch liken to resemble (Dutch lijken ), Middle Low German līken to resemble, to compare, to make alike, Old High German līhhēn (Middle High German līchen to resemble), Old Icelandic líkja to make alike, to resemble, Old Swedish lika (Swedish lika ), Old Danish likae (Danish lige to resemble, to compare, to make alike). Compare earlier liken v.Compare (with prefix: see y- prefix) Old English gelīcian to make alike, to resemble, cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian gelīkia to make alike, Middle Dutch geliken to resemble, to compare (Dutch gelijken to resemble, formerly also ‘to compare’), Middle Low German gelīken to compare, Middle High German gelīchen to resemble, to make alike (German gleichen to resemble), Old Icelandic glíkja to make alike, to resemble, Gothic galeikon to resemble < the Germanic base of ylike adj.
I. To compare; to imitate.
1.
a. transitive. To compare or liken to something or someone else. rare after 17th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > comparison > compare [verb (transitive)] > liken
bysenc1325
anliken1340
comparison1340
liken1340
figure1393
like?c1425
semblea1440
compare1447
comparagea1450
signifya1470
comparate?a1475
figurate?a1500
resemble1533
patterna1586
symbolize with1605
assimilatec1616
similize1620
symbolize1651
similarize1806
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 105 A warte in growynge is liked [?a1425 N.Y. Acad. Med. likned; L. assimilatur] to formyca.
1559 T. Paynell tr. Erasmus Complaint of Peace sig. C.iii Whan he lyketh him selfe vnto a henne, gathering her chyckens vnder her winges, with howe apte a signe dothe he paynte concorde?
1622 G. Wither Faire-virtue sig. F7v If to gold I like her Haire.
1651 J. Robotham Expos. Solomons Song i. 2 In respect of those strange comparisons, liking the Spouse to a company of horses in Pharaoh's Chariot, her bed to Carmel.
1817 A. Clarke Comm. New Test. I. (Luke xxiii. 12) The Moabites and Ammonites..united against poor Israel..may be liked to two contending dogs who, when the wolf comes, join together to destroy him.
1976 Human Ecol. 4 268 It becomes easy to characterize rapid and continuing growth in one region as cancerous to world society, liking it to a malignant tumor spreading through organ systems.
2014 M. Maldonato Predictive Brain i. 4 For thousands of years the problem of consciousness has been liked to mysticism and materialism, metaphysics and ontology.
†b. intransitive. To be comparable or equal to. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > be or become equal [verb (intransitive)]
evenOE
peerc1400
aperea1450
apparagea1450
likea1450
to make odds evena1616
sharea1616
twin1626
size1639
equalize1906
a1450 Rule St. Benet (Vesp.) (1902) l. 806 (MED) Þe stegh..Es likand til our erthli life, Þe whilk stegh..God rases vp right to þe heuyn.
c1450 Long Charter of Christ, A Text (Bodl. Add. C. 280) (1914) l. 96 (MED) Redyn vpon þis parchemyne ȝyf any sorow likith [c1390 Vernon beo lyk] to myne.
†2.
a. transitive. To fashion or make in a certain likeness. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > imitate [verb (transitive)] > model on or fashion after
comparisona1382
counterfeitc1430
like?c1450
exemplify1566
pattern1567
afform1578
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 1460 In haly speche he lyked [L. assimilavit] his lunde.
b. transitive. To imitate; to make a likeness of. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > imitate [verb (transitive)]
evenlecheOE
resemble?c1400
imitate1534
sequest1567
succeed1577
act1599
pattern1601
similize1606
like1613
echoa1616
sample1616
ape1634
transcribe1646
copy1648
copy1649
mime1728
borrowa1847
to make likea1881
replicate1915
1613 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals I. v. 98 Her lilly hand (not to be lik'd by Art) A paire of Pincers held.
II. Senses in which phrasal uses of like adj. III. are remodelled, with like reanalysed as a verb.
3. In the past participle. Almost or nearly to have done or been; to have come close to. With reference to an action narrowly averted or avoided, with the action specified by to and an infinitive (usually a perfect infinitive). Cf. like adj. 11a.Only in certain phrasal constructions arising by parallel with similar constructions of like adj., with like reanalysed as a verb and remodelled as a past participle (see note at like adj. 11b); sociolinguists and dialectologists typically present examples of (had) like to in U.S. regional use as showing an uninflected form of the same verb. Similarly, the reduced forms liketa and liketer (see like adj. 11c) could be interpreted as representing liked to in sense 3b(b); cf. the earlier reduction of used to to useta or useter (see useter v.) in U.S. English.
†a. had liked to. Cf. had like to at like adj. 11b. Obsolete (regional in later use).In later use also with omission of have from the perfect infinitive so that liked to is followed directly by the past participle; cf. sense 3b(b) and see note at like adj. 11c(b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > probability, likelihood > be or seem likely [verb (intransitive)]
appeara1530
to have some show1556
think1579
to look like1594
to put fairc1595
had liked to1600
to show for ——1776
fare1850
show1901
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing v. i. 116 Wee had likt to haue had our two noses snapt off with two old men without teeth. View more context for this quotation
1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue I. xiv. 146 The first pair of Stairs..had liked to have lamed me.
1716 W. Nicolson in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 396 The judges, whom he had liked to have provoked by his clownish behaviour at the bar.
1760 H. Walpole Let. 25 Oct. in Corr. (1941) IX. 311 He probably got his death as he had liked to have done two years ago.
1800 A. M. Thornton in Rec. Columbia Hist. Soc. (1907) X. 117 Joe..said they had liked to have been lost in Pohick run.
1882 J. H. Nodal & G. Milner Gloss. Lancs. Dial.: Pt. II at Liked Get out o'th' way, aw'd liked to knock'd this deawn.
a1895 E. Smith MS Coll. Warwicks. Words in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1902) III. 603/1 I'd liked to fell into the busk.
b. With omission of be or have.
(a) With following infinitive, usually a perfect infinitive. Now U.S. regional (chiefly south and south Midland) and in African-American usage.
ΚΠ
1660 R. Mathews Unlearned Alchymist 86 She replied that she had a Country man at the Tower gave Pills and that they had cured her, but they liked to have killed her.
1755 Tryal W. Turton for Murder of J. Holloway 6 Upon the Bridge [he] was insulted very much with Stones and Dirt, and liked to have been pulled off his Horse.
1785 Theologico-controversistical Conf. at Hague II. ix. 164 The one..which liked to have been the death of Rabbi Moses.
1847 S. C. Reid Scouting Exped. McCulloch's Texas Rangers 164 Well, boys, we liked to have beaten you.
1915 Dial. Notes 4 185 He liked to a fell into the river.
1938 A. J. Liebling Back where I came From 31 When we got him aboard he liked to kick our brains out.
2011 M. Stanton Angel's Verdict xiv. 244 Liked to have killed Dixie's mamma, all that nursing.
(b) U.S. regional (chiefly south and south Midland) and in African-American usage. With omission of have from the perfect infinitive so that liked to is followed directly by the past participle or past tense (see note at like adj. 11c(b)).
ΚΠ
1854 J. E. Cooke Virginia Comedians I. xlix. 282 She liked to fainted just now.
1932 E. Caldwell Tobacco Road xv. 172 The last time me and Dude went up there in my car, she and Ellie May liked to had a fit.
1958 Phi Delta Kappan 40 144/2 I went home and told Clara and she liked to died laughing.
2006 D. Arnoult Sufficient Grace 119 She knew I'd be gone, and she knew she needed me... It liked to killed her.
4. Scottish and Irish English (northern). to be liking to: to be likely to; to be about to or on the verge of. Cf. like adj. 10a, liking n.2 2.
ΚΠ
1727 A. Ramsay New Misc. Scots Sangs 115 My Heart alake, is liken to break When I think of my winsome John.
1828 D. M. Moir Life Mansie Wauch xv. 134 ‘What do you think came owre her then?’ said I to him, liking to be at my wits end.
1923 G. Rae Langsyne in Braefoot viii. 82 I've warselled lang in the moss-hag o' evil, an' I'm liken to sink.
1958 New Shetlander No. 48. 11 A gale cam roarin ower da Wastern Ocean Laekin ta rive da riggin fae da hoose.
1996 I. Macleod & P. Cairns Scots School Dict. (1999) (at cited word) Ah'm liken tae cook dinner the nicht.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

> see also

also refers to : -likesuffix
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n.1c1175n.2a1400adj.adv.conj.prep.OEv.1eOEv.2?c1425
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