lick and a promise

lick and a promise
*a lick and a promise
Fig. a hasty bit of work; a quick once-over. (*Typically: finish something with \lick and a promise; givesomething \lick and a promise.) •

I was pressed for time, so I just gave the housework a lick and a promise.

Mary spent so much time on her history paper that she had to finish her math homework with a lick and a promise.

* * *
{n. phr.}, {informal} A careless, hasty job; an unsatisfactory piece of work. * /You didn't wash your hands. You just gave them a lick and a promise./ * /The boys didn't cut the grass properly. All it got was a lick and a promise./

Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.

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  • Lick and a Promise — is a song by American hard rock band Aerosmith first appearing on their album Rocks . Clocking in at 3:05, it is the album s shortest song. It was written by Joe Perry and Steven Tyler. About the song s lyrical content, Steven Tyler said (This… …   Wikipedia

  • lick and a promise — {n. phr.}, {informal} A careless, hasty job; an unsatisfactory piece of work. * /You didn t wash your hands. You just gave them a lick and a promise./ * /The boys didn t cut the grass properly. All it got was a lick and a promise./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • lick\ and\ a\ promise — n. phr. informal A careless, hasty job; an unsatisfactory piece of work. You didn t wash your hands. You just gave them a lick and a promise. The boys didn t cut the grass properly. All it got was a lick and a promise …   Словарь американских идиом

  • lick and a promise — phrasal : a perfunctory performance of a task gives his job little more than a lick and a promise Jack Iams breakfast over, I gave the house a lick and a promise Kathleen Thomas …   Useful english dictionary

  • lick and a promise — See a lick and a promise …   English idioms

  • lick and a promise — Mawdesley Glossary a scamped and hurried wash …   English dialects glossary

  • a lick and a promise — A perfunctory wash • • • Main Entry: ↑lick * * * informal a hasty performance of a task, esp. of cleaning something * * * a lick and a promise 1 US : a quick and careless attempt to do something They gave the budget problems a lick and a promise …   Useful english dictionary

  • give (something) a lick and a promise — 1. to clean something quickly and not carefully. I put on my new suit, gave my shoes a lick and a promise, and left the house. 2. to do a job or piece of work quickly and not carefully. We didn t have time to do much clearing up in the yard just… …   New idioms dictionary

  • a lick and a promise — If you give something a lick and a promise, you do it hurriedly, most often incompletely, intending to return to it later …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • a lick and a promise — ► a lick and a promise informal a hasty wash. Main Entry: ↑lick …   English terms dictionary

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