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lick one's wounds
Idioms and Phrases
Recuperate from injuries or hurt feelings. For example, They were badly beaten in the debate and went home sadly to lick their wounds . This expression alludes to an animal's behavior when wounded. It was originally put as lick oneself clean or whole , dating from the mid-1500s.Example Sentences
Thereās no need to censure the desire to forge kinship, to lick oneās wounds, to seek respite or joy.
āPart of the advantage of being a developer who puts forth proposals like these is that itās possible to suffer multiple defeats, lick oneās wounds, replenish oneās war chest, and return to fight again in a cycle that can continue pretty much indefinitely,ā Fedarko observes.
But with a thousand islands scattered along their countryās jade-green Adriatic coast, from deserted flyspecks to hipster outposts, thereās no shortage of places to lick oneās woundsāor bask in silver-medal glory.
Be prepared to resign or otherwise walk off the job after careful calculation of the pros and cons of helping the country vs. going home to lick oneās wounds.
During a speech to U.S. bishops at St. Matthewās Cathedral in Washington, he acknowledged a ābattle between light and darkness being fought in the world,ā but warned against the ātemptation to give in to fear, to lick oneās wounds, to think back on bygone times and to devise harsh responses to fierce opposition.ā
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Ā© Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American HeritageĀ® Idioms Dictionary copyright Ā© 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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