Idioms for like

Origin of like

1
1150–1200; Middle English lic, lik < Old Norse līkr; replacing Old English gelīc, cognate with Dutch gelijk, German gleich, Old Norse glīkr, Gothic galeiks like, literally, of the same body or form. See y-, lich

usage note for like

Like1 as a conjunction meaning “as, in the same way as” ( Many shoppers study the food ads like brokers study market reports ) or “as if” ( It looks like it will rain ) has been used for nearly 500 years and by many distinguished literary and intellectual figures. Since the mid-19th century there have been objections, often vehement, to these uses. Nevertheless, such uses are almost universal today in all but the most formal speech and writing. In extremely careful speech and in much formal writing, as, as if, and as though are more commonly used than like : The commanding general accepted full responsibility for the incident, as any professional soldier would. Many of the Greenwich Village bohemians lived as if (or as though ) there were no tomorrow.
The strong strictures against the use of like as a conjunction have resulted in the occasional hypercorrect use of as as a preposition where like is idiomatic: She looks as a sympathetic person.
Like meaning “as if” is also standard in informal speech and writing with a small number of adjectives: The crew worked like crazy (or like mad ) to finish the job on time. See also as.

OTHER WORDS FROM like

lik·er, noun

Words nearby like

ligurian republic, ligurian sea, ligustrum, likable, likasi, like, like a bat out of hell, like a bump on a log, like a cat on hot bricks, like a champ, like a chicken with its head cut off

British Dictionary definitions for like to (1 of 2)

Word Origin for like

shortened from Old English gelīc; compare Old Norse glīkr and līkr like

usage for like

The use of like to mean such as was formerly thought to be undesirable in formal writing, but has now become acceptable. It was also thought that as rather than like should be used to mean in the same way that, but now both as and like are acceptable: they hunt and catch fish as/like their ancestors used to. The use of look like and seem like before a clause, although very common, is thought by many people to be incorrect or non-standard: it looks as though he won't come (not it looks like he won't come)

British Dictionary definitions for like to (2 of 2)

like 2
/ (laɪk) /

verb

noun

(usually plural) a favourable feeling, desire, preference, etc (esp in the phrase likes and dislikes)

Word Origin for like

Old English līcian; related to Old Norse līka, Dutch lijken

Idioms and Phrases with like to (1 of 2)

like to

Also, liked to. Come close to, be on the point of. For example, We like to froze to death, or He liked to have never got away. This expression, now considered a colloquialism from the American South, dates from the early 1400s and was used several times by Shakespeare.

Idioms and Phrases with like to (2 of 2)

like