take a licking and keep on ticking

English

Etymology

Derived from the advertising slogan for Timex wrist-watches.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

take a licking and keep on ticking (third-person singular simple present takes a licking and keeps on ticking, present participle taking a licking and keeping on ticking, simple past took a licking and kept on ticking, past participle taken a licking and kept on ticking)

1. (idiomatic) To be tough; to have endurance; to have the capacity to absorb stress or damage, but still be able to function.
   • 2008, George R. R. Martin et al., Inside Straight, page 124:

     How am I supposed to knock these other guys off. My wild card is nothing but defensive. I take a licking and keep on ticking. Big whoop.

   • 2006, Anthony Mancuso, LLC Or Corporation?: How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business, page 47:

     Insurance allows your business to take a licking and keep on ticking.

   • 1997, Ira Livingston, Arrow of Chaos: Romanticism and Postmodernity, section 2.3:

     The persistence-through-change of Romantic ideologemes — the way they've taken a licking and kept on ticking — is explicable by their extension and saturation — their participation — in ongoing formations of capitalism and disciplinarity.

   • 1994, Pinckney Benedict, Dogs of God, page 204:

     "That," the first said, "was one hardy son of a bitch. Took a licking but went on ticking. I heard he made it all the way down off the mountain before he snuffed it."

   • 1986, David Morrell, The Fraternity of the Stone, page 177:

     But the car amazed him. It kept going. And that too struck him as funny. Takes a licking, keeps on ticking.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:take a licking and keep on ticking.