lick into shape
To exert considerable effort to change (someone or something) into a desired state.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I need to lick this messy garden into shape.”
“The new coach worked hard to lick the struggling team into shape before the championship.”
“After years of neglect, the new manager spent months licking the department into shape to meet the company's rigorous standards.”
first recorded 17th c.
The idiom derives from a medieval belief regarding the gestation of bears. It was long maintained that bear cubs were born as indistinct, shapeless lumps of flesh, and that the mother was required to literally lick the whelps into the proper form of a bear. The tongue acted as a sculptor's tool, refining the raw material of the birth into a recognisable creature.
Robert Burton utilised the imagery in the 1624 second edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy to describe the state of his writing. He lamented that he lacked the leisure and the assistance of Amanuenses to properly revise his work, noting he was enforced to bring forth a confused lump. Lacking the time to lick the Tract into form as a Bear doth her young ones, he published the text in its initial, unrefined state.
- 01
bash into shape
Of an item, to fix or build it; often in a rough and ready fashion.
- 02
get bent out of shape
To take offense; to become angry, agitated, or upset.
- 03
hit a lick
To earn a large sum of money in a short amount of time, usually illegally.
- 04
in any way, shape, or form
In any way at all; whatsoever.
- 05
lick and a promise
A quick, not-very-thorough wash.
- 06
lick log
A crucial or challenging moment; a moment in time when a decision must be made.
- 07
lick my balls
Synonym of suck my balls.
- 08
lick one's chops
To look forward avidly to eating something.
Last updated August 10, 2026