Word: like Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Verb from Middle English liken, from Old English līcian (“to like, to please”), from Proto-West Germanic *līkēn, from Proto-Germanic *līkāną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“image; likeness; similarity”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian liekje (“to be similar, resemble”), West Frisian lykje (“to seem, appear, look”), Dutch lijken (“to seem”), Low German lieken (“to be like; resemble”), German gleichen (“to resemble”), Swedish lika (“to like; put up with; align with”), Norwegian like (“to like”), Icelandic and Faroese líka (“to like”). Noun from Middle English like (“pleasure, will, like”), from the verb Middle English liken (“to like”). Pronunciation: /laɪ̯k/, /læ̙ːk/, /lɑːk/, /lɔɪ̯k/, /lʌɪk/ 1. To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of. Example: I like reading books. Example: I very much like hamburgers. 2. To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of. Labels: archaic, transitive Example: 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. Example: His countenance likes me not. 3. To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of. Labels: obsolete Example: 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. Example: 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. Example: I like to go to the dentist every six months. Example: She likes to keep herself physically fit. 5. To find attractive; to prefer the company of; to have mild romantic feelings for. Example: I really like Sandra but don't know how to tell her. Example: ― Enju: “Apparently when you like someone, you start talking like them.” 6. To want, desire. See also would like. Example: Would you like a cigarette? Example: We could go to the museum if you like. 7. To show support for, or approval of, something posted on the Internet by marking it with a vote. Labels: Internet, transitive Example: I liked my friend's last status on Facebook. Example: I can't stand Bloggs' tomato ketchup, but I liked it on Facebook so I could enter a competition. 8. Of inanimate objects: Labels: informal Example: Too bad this cheese likes to stick to the pan and ruin the whole meal. 9. Of inanimate objects: Labels: informal Example: This self-service checkout doesn't seem to like my credit card. Example: 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. 10. To come near; to avoid with difficulty; to escape narrowly. Labels: archaic Example: He liked to have been too late. Example: 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. To have an appearance or expression; to look; to seem to be (in a specified condition). Labels: obsolete Example: You like well, and bear your years very well. 12. To liken; to compare. Labels: obsolete Example: And like me to the peasant boys of France.