lick one's wounds

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lick one's wounds (third-person singular simple present licks one's wounds, present participle licking one's wounds, simple past and past participle licked one's wounds)

1. (idiomatic) To withdraw temporarily while recovering from a defeat; to recuperate.
   • 1996 May, Teng-hui Lee, “Political Reforms”, in Peace Through Democratic Reforms, Taipei: Wen Ying Tang Press Inc., →ISBN, →OCLC, page 11:

     Prevented by internal and external influences, this ideal of placing the sovereignty in the hands of the people was not carried out immediately after the establishment of the Republic of China. With the changes of time, particularly with the relocation of the ROC government to Taiwan, we have gradually carried it out at last, but only after having licked our wounds and built our strength for forty years.

   • 2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London)‎:

     If the ball was out of play, someone in blue would dash to get it back. This was not a side licking its wounds from the humbling of Anfield or Saturday’s ordeal against Manchester United. It was the best team in England with adrenaline running through their veins, playing as if they believed anything was achievable.

• “lick one's wounds”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.