This week’s theme
Americanisms

This week’s words
cracker-barrel
jamboree
lickety-split
ripstaver
hunky-dory

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(lik-uh-tee-SPLIT)

MEANING:

adverb: At great speed.

ETYMOLOGY:

A fanciful formation from lick (fast) + split. Earliest documented use: 1859.

USAGE:

“‘There’s a wind high up in the pines,’ said Nell. ...
‘And the windmill’s goin lickety-split,’ said Howard.”
Mary O’Hara; My Friend Flicka; Lippincott; 1941.

See more usage examples of lickety-split in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: