The phrase 'has been licked' is correct and can be used in written English.
It is usually used to mean that a problem or challenge has been overcome or dealt with. For example: The issue of food waste has been licked thanks to the new recycling initiative.
Fifty years later, it's fair to say that the looming leisure crisis has been licked.
The fuel be burned without difficulty at the cylinder's top dead-centre, and the urea-injection system is no longer required.Not just a fair-weather friendMeanwhile, the diesel's old bugbear of poor starting in cold weather has been licked by the adoption of piezoelectric fuel injectors with multiple nozzles, which can spray fuel in whatever pattern best suits the operating conditions.
The FOX has been licking its own genitals.
Cutie the dog, meanwhile, has been licking the reporter's foot.
The Daily Mail has been huffing predictably about glory and respect; Arthur Scargill has been licking old wounds.
No, someone hadn't put curry powder in BNP Youth leader Jack Renshaw's salt shaker; instead, according to a now-deleted Facebook status, his dog Derek has been "licking the penises of other male dogs".
Sensing beauty in decay, Mr. Deacon sent out patterns of scorching, as though graceful dresses had been licked by flames.
Perhaps their complexion is extraordinarily smooth as though their faces have been licked by the milky tongue of a unicorn.
The lamb was still covered by yellow brown foetal membranes though its face had been licked clean.
Having been wiped with a damp cloth, its lips looked as if they had been licked, even though no mouth was attached to them yet.
Meaney's team found that when the rats grew up, those that had been licked and groomed did better at finding their way through mazes.
