[lahyk] 
adjective, (Poetic
) lik⋅er, lik⋅est, preposition, adverb, conjunction, noun, verb, liked, lik⋅ing, interjection | 1. | of the same form, appearance, kind, character, amount, etc.: I cannot remember a like instance. |
| 2. | corresponding or agreeing in general or in some noticeable respect; similar; analogous: drawing, painting, and like arts. |
| 3. | bearing resemblance. |
| 4. | Dialect. likely: 'Tis like that he's gone mad. |
| 5. | Dialect. about: The poor chap seemed like to run away. |
| 6. | in like manner with; similarly to; in the manner characteristic of: He works like a beaver. |
| 7. | resembling (someone or something): He is just like his father. Your necklace is just like mine. |
| 8. | characteristic of: It would be like him to forget our appointment. |
| 9. | as if there is promise of; indicative of: It looks like rain. |
| 10. | as if someone or something gives promise of being: She looks like a good prospect for the job. |
| 11. | disposed or inclined to (usually prec. by feel): to feel like going to bed. |
| 12. | similar or comparable to: There is nothing like a cold drink of water when one is thirsty. What was he like? |
| 13. | (used correlatively to indicate similarity through relationship): like father, like son. |
| 14. | (used to establish an intensifying, often facetious, comparison): sleeping like a log. |
| 15. | as; such as: There are numerous hobbies you might enjoy, like photography or painting. |
| 16. | nearly; closely; approximately: The house is more like 40 than 20 years old. |
| 17. | Informal. likely or probably: Like enough he'll come with us. Like as not her leg is broken. |
| 18. | Nonstandard.
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| 19. | in the same way as; just as; as: It happened like you might expect it would. |
| 20. | as if: He acted like he was afraid. The car runs like new. |
| 21. | Informal. (used esp. after forms of be to introduce reported speech or thought): She's like, "I don't believe it," and I'm like, "No, it's true!" |
| 22. | a similar or comparable person or thing, or like persons or things; counterpart, match, or equal (usually prec. by a possessive adjective or the): No one has seen his like in a long time. Like attracts like. |
| 23. | kind; sort; type; ilk (usually prec. by a possessive adjective): I despise moochers and their like. |
| 24. | the like, something of a similar nature: They grow oranges, lemons, and the like. |
| 25. | Informal. (used esp. in speech, often nonvolitionally or habitually, to preface a sentence, to fill a pause, to express uncertainty, or to intensify or neutralize a following adjective): Like, why didn't you write to me? The music was, like, really great, you know? |
| 26. | like anything, Informal. very much; extremely; with great intensity: He wanted like anything to win. |
| 27. | like to or liked to, South Midland and Southern U.S. was on the verge of or came close to (doing something): The poor kid like to froze. |
| 28. | something like, Informal. something approaching or approximating: It looked something like this. |
| 29. | the like or likes of, someone or something similar to; the equal of: I've never seen the like of it anywhere. |
[lahyk] verb, liked, lik⋅ing, noun | 1. | to take pleasure in; find agreeable or congenial: We all liked the concert. |
| 2. | to regard with favor; have a kindly or friendly feeling for (a person, group, etc.); find attractive: His parents like me and I like them. |
| 3. | to wish or prefer: You can do exactly as you like while you are a guest here. |
| 4. | to feel inclined; wish: We'll have lunch whenever you like. |
| 5. | Archaic. to suit the tastes or wishes; please. |
| 6. | Usually, likes. the things a person likes: a long list of likes and dislikes. |
| 7. | would like. would (def. 10). |
| a suffixal use of like 1 in the formation of adjectives (childlike; lifelike), sometimes hyphenated. |
| like 1 (līk) v. liked, lik·ing, likes v. tr.
[Middle English liken, from Old English līcian, to please; see līk- in Indo-European roots.] |
| like 2 (līk) prep.
[Middle English, from like, similar (from Old English gelīc and Old Norse līkr) and from like, similarly (from Old English gelīce, from gelīc, similar); see līk- in Indo-European roots.] Usage Note: Writers since Chaucer's time have used like as a conjunction, but 19th-century and 20th-century critics have been so vehement in their condemnations of this usage that a writer who uses the construction in formal style risks being accused of illiteracy or worse. Prudence requires The dogs howled as (not like) we expected them to. Like is more acceptably used as a conjunction in informal style with verbs such as feel, look, seem, sound, and taste, as in It looks like we are in for a rough winter. But here too as if is to be preferred in formal writing. There can be no objection to the use of like as a conjunction when the following verb is not expressed, as in He took to politics like a duck to water. See Usage Notes at as1, together. Our Living Language : Along with be all and go, the construction combining be and like has become a common way of introducing quotations in informal conversation, especially among younger people: "So I'm like, 'Let's get out of here!'" As with go, this use of like can also announce a brief imitation of another person's behavior, often elaborated with facial expressions and gestures. It can also summarize a past attitude or reaction (instead of presenting direct speech). If a woman says "I'm like, 'Get lost buddy!'" she may or may not have used those actual words to tell the offending man off. In fact, she may not have said anything to him but instead may be summarizing her attitude at the time by stating what she might have said, had she chosen to speak. See Notes at all, go1. |
| like 3 (līk) aux.v. Chiefly Southern U.S. Used with a past infinitive or with to and a simple past form to indicate being just on the point of or coming near to having done something in the past: "I like to a split a gut laughin'." "It seemed as how nobody had thought about measurin' the width of the bridge's openin', and we like to didn't make it through" (Dictionary of American Regional English). [Middle English liken, to compare, from like, similar; see like2.] Our Living Language : In certain Southern varieties of American English there are two grammatically distinct usages of the word like to mean "was on the verge of." In both, either like or liked is possible. In the first, the word is followed by a past infinitive: We liked (or like) to have drowned. The ancestor of this construction was probably the adjective like in the sense "likely, on the verge of," as in She's like to get married again. The adjective was reinterpreted by some speakers as a verb, and since like to and liked to are indistinguishable in normal speech, the past tense came to be marked on the following infinitive for clarity. From this developed a second way of expressing the same concept: the use of like to with a following finite past-tense verb form, as in I like to died when I saw that. This construction appears odd at first because it ostensibly contains an ungrammatical infinitive to died; but that is not the case at all. What has happened is that like to here has been reinterpreted as an adverb meaning almost. In fact, it is quite common to see the phrase spelled as a single word, in the pronunciation spelling liketa. |
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In addition to the idioms beginning with like, also see and the like; avoid like the plague; come up (smelling like) roses; crazy like a fox; drink like a fish; drop like flies; Dutch uncle, talk to like a; eat like a bird; feel like; (like a) fish out of water; fit like a glove; fly on the wall, would like to be a; get on (like a house afire); go out (like a light); go over (like a lead balloon); grin like a Cheshire cat; (drop like a) hot potato; just like that; know like a book; live like a king; look like a million dollars; look like death; look like something the cat dragged in; look like the cat that ate the canary; make out like a bandit; manna from heaven, like; mind like a steel trap; need like a hole in the head; no fool like an old fool; not anything like; no time like the present; out like a light; packed in like sardines; sleep like a log; something like; spread like wildfire; stick out (like a sore thumb); swear like a trooper; take to (like a duck to water); tell it like it is; treat like dirt; turn up like a bad penny; wail like a banshee; watch like a hawk; work like a beaver; work like a charm.