like

verb

1. To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.

   “I like reading books.”

   “I very much like hamburgers.”

   “I like skiing in winter very much.”

   “I like the Seattle Mariners this season.”

   “I like it when you sing.”

2. (archaic, transitive)To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.

   “I willingly confess that it likes me much better when I find virtue in a fair lodging than when I am bound to seek it in an ill-favoured creature.”

   “His countenance likes me not.”

3. (obsolete)To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.

   “And therefore it is the best way, if you like of it, to examine these taken from experiments touching the Earth, and then proceed to those of the other kind.”

   “He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.”

4. To prefer and maintain (an action) as a regular habit or activity.

   “I like to go to the dentist every six months.”

   “She likes to keep herself physically fit.”

   “We like to keep one around the office just in case.”

   “People in Washington like to work out!”

5. To find attractive; to prefer the company of; to have mild romantic feelings for.

   “I really like Sandra but don't know how to tell her.”

   “― Enju: “Apparently when you like someone, you start talking like them.””

   “I was dating someone I liked, but not enough to marry.”

6. To want, desire. See also would like.

   “Would you like a cigarette?”

   “We could go to the museum if you like.”

   “May I leave now? ~ If you like.”

   “I don't like to disturb him when he's working.”

7. (Internet, transitive)To show support for, or approval of, something posted on the Internet by marking it with a vote.

   “I liked my friend's last status on Facebook.”

   “I can't stand Bloggs' tomato ketchup, but I liked it on Facebook so I could enter a competition.”

   “What' up, y'all? I'm the last man on Earth. Shit's all fucked up. Don't forget to like and subscribe. We out here.”

8. (informal)Of inanimate objects:

   “Too bad this cheese likes to stick to the pan and ruin the whole meal.”

9. (informal)Of inanimate objects:

   “This self-service checkout doesn't seem to like my credit card.”

   “We were frustrated that our seeming innocent choice for a team name was rejected by the game. Apparently somewhere in the name is a word that the algorithm doesn’t like.”

   “email delivery failed: remote host does not like recipient”

10. (archaic)To come near; to avoid with difficulty; to escape narrowly.

    “He liked to have been too late.”

    “He probably got his death, as he liked to have done two years ago, by viewing the troops for the expedition from the wall of Kensington Garden.”

11. (obsolete)To have an appearance or expression; to look; to seem to be (in a specified condition).

    “You like well, and bear your years very well.”

12. (obsolete)To liken; to compare.

    “And like me to the peasant boys of France.”

13. (dialectal, intransitive)To be likely.

    “He probably got his death, as he liked to have done two years ago, by viewing the troops for the expedition, from the wall of Kensington garden.”

noun

1. (in-plural)Something that a person likes (prefers).

   “Tell me your likes and dislikes.”

2. (Internet)An individual vote showing support for, approval of, or enjoyment of, something posted on the Internet.

   “Social media is supervisual, and there's nothing more shareable than images, so this is a way to increase shares and likes and follows.”

   “Dress for myself, I don't dress for hype / I dress for myself, you dress for the likes”

   “Likes are the social media currency undergirding an entire influencer economy, inspiring a million Kardashian wannabes and giving many of us regular people daily endorphin hits.”

3. (countable, sometimes, uncountable)Someone similar to a given person, or something similar to a given object; a comparative; a type; a sort.

   “There were bowls full of sweets, chocolates and the like.”

   “This is something the likes of which I've never seen before, and we should compare like with like instead.”

   “"Such things do happen and centre round the wicked medium. You can get down into a region which is akin to the popular idea of witchcraft, it is dishonest to deny it." "Like attracts like," explained Mrs. Mailey[.]”

   “1935, Winston Churchill on T.E. Lawrence We shall never see his like again.”

   “It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July the 26th was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth.”

4. (countable, uncountable)The stroke that equalizes the number of strokes played by the opposing player or side.

   “to play the like”

adj

1. Similar.

   “My partner and I have like minds.”

   “The two cats were as like as though they had come from the same litter.”

   “1872, John Forster, The Life of Charles Dickens This apology was made after Hunt's death, and mentioned a revision of the first sketch, so as to render it less like, at the suggestion of two other friends of Hunt. The friends were Procter (Barry Cornwall) and myself; the feeling having been mine from the first that the likeness was too like.”

   “It will seem strange that in all this time the Presbytery was idle, and no effort was made to rid the place of so fell an influence. But there was a reason, and the reason, as in most like cases, was a lassie.”

   “[…]and this is not a sky, it is a Soul and living Face! Nothing liker the Temple of the Highest, bright with some real effulgence of the Highest, is seen in this world.”

2. (Scotland, Southern-US)Likely; probable.

   “But it is like the jolly world about us will scoff at the paradox of these practices.”

   “Many were […] not easy to be govern'd, nor like to conform themselves to such strict rules.”

   “Finding it was like to overblow, we took in our Sprit-ſail, and ſtood by to hand the Fore-ſail; but making foul Weather, we look'd the Guns were all faſt, and handed the Miſſen.”

   “She had waited overlong, and now it was like that Ailie would escape her toils.”

3. (Scotland, Southern-US, usually)inclined (to), prone (to).

   “He seems like to run from any semblance of hard work.”

adv

1. (colloquial, dialectal, obsolete)Likely.

   “DON PEDRO. May be she doth but counterfeit. CLAUDIO. Faith, like enough.”

   ““You'll try it, some day, like enough; but you'll get tired of the change pretty soon.” “Why?” “Well, I'll tell you. Now you've always been a sailor; did you ever try some other business?””

   “If I can't spare the time—well, like as not we go anyhow. And where else can you ride all day with your saddle and neck full of snow brushed from the trees and still not freeze half to death?”

2. (archaic, rare)In a like or similar manner.

   “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.”

conj

1. (colloquial)As, the way.

   “1966, Advertising slogan for Winston cigarettes Winston tastes good like a cigarette should”

   “But if you do right to me, baby I’ll do right to you, too Ya got to do unto others Like you’d have them, like you’d have them, do unto you”

2. (colloquial, usually)As if; as though; such as.

   “It looks like you've finished the project.”

   “It seemed like you didn't care.”

   “Why don’t we do something useful like clean the kitchen?”

   “He didn’t have many friends, it didn’t seem like.”

   “A too skinny white girl, dressed like some kind of teen-ager although she had to be thirty, with one of those fake white-girl smiles stuck on her face like with scotch tape.”

prep

1. Similar to, reminiscent of.

   “Folk like that I just can’t brook.”

   “I’m very like my father.”

   “Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.”

   “Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.”

   “It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.”

2. Typical of.

   “It would be just like Achilles to be sulking in his tent.”

3. Approximating.

   “Popcorn costs something like 10 dollars at the movies.”

4. In the manner of, similarly to.

   “He doesn't act like a president.”

5. Such as.

   “It's for websites like Wikipedia.”

6. As if there would be.

   “It looks like a hot summer in Europe.”

7. Used to ask for a description or opinion of someone or something.

   “I hear she has a new boyfriend. What's he like? –He's intelligent and handsome.”

   “What’s the weather like in Ürümqi today?”

   “What does your mom look like? –She's pretty.”

particle

1. (Geordie, Ireland, Scotland, Teesside, colloquial)A delayed filler.

   “He was so angry, like.”

2. (colloquial)Indicating approximation or uncertainty.

   “There were, like, twenty of them.”

   “[Sally Brown:] Christmas is getting all you can get while the getting is good. [Charlie Brown:] GIVING! The only real joy is GIVING! [Sally Brown, rolling her eyes:] Like, wow!”

   “"She's like brand new."”

3. (colloquial)Used to precede an approximate quotation or paraphrase or an expression of something that happened.

   “I was like, “Why did you do that?” and he's like, “I don't know.””

   “A customer walked in like, "I demand to see the manager!"”

   “You're just doing your own thing and some one comes out the blue, They're like, "Alright" What ya saying, "Yeah can I take your digits?" And you're like, "no not in a million years, you're nasty please leave me alone."”

   “'It made this sky ripping noise, and then went like “bang”, real hard into the ground. A long way away but.'”

4. (colloquial)a discourse marker used to highlight or put focus on new information or a new development in a story

   “She was, like, sooooo happy.”

   “And then he, like, got all angry and left the room.”

name

1. A surname.