Lick : v. tr. and pron. Pass the tongue on (something.).
To lick the fingers / the thumbs / the lips: to revel in it.
Window shopping: window shopping.
To lick the fingers / the thumbs / the lips: to revel in it.
Window shopping: window shopping.
Badly licked bear (from the legend of the bear cub informs that its mother licks to shape it): a poorly made being, misshapen, and by extension, it is an individual of forbidding appearance, in rude ways (see the expression below).
Finish, polish (a literary or artistic work) with too meticulous care (polish, polish); A well-licked painting.
Lick boots, lick someone's ass, slavishly flatter them (boot-lick, ass-lick, lick).
The expression “badly licked bear”: Person who flees from society - Person gruff.
We know that the bear is a mainly solitary animal, although it does need, from time to time, to get closer to a congener of the opposite sex to perpetuate the species.
If the first meaning of the expression is therefore easily understood, the second is less obvious.
Long before, at the time of Aristotle, already, we find a belief that says that the bear cub is born partly shapeless and that it is "finalized" by its mother who licks it. to result in a fully trained animal.
Thus, from an alleged physical malformation, we have moved towards an educational malformation, the “badly licked” person being badly educated, therefore rude, to give the second meaning of the expression.