Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Lich
Lich
(lĭk)
, Adj.
Like.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
Spenser.
Lich
(lĭch)
, Noun.
A dead body; a corpse.
[Obs.]
Lich fowl
(Zool.)
, the European goatsucker; – called also
– lich owl
. Lich gate
, a covered gate through which the corpse was carried to the church or burial place, and where the bier was placed to await the clergyman; a corpse gate.
[Prov. Eng.]
Halliwell.
– Lich wake
, the wake, or watching, held over a corpse before burial.
[Prov Eng.]
Chaucer.
– Lich wall
, the wall of a churchyard or burying ground.
– Lich way
, the path by which the dead are carried to the grave.
[Prov. Eng.]
Webster 1828 Edition
Lich
LICH
,Adj.
LICH
,Noun.
Definition 2024
Lich
lich
lich
English
Noun
lich (plural liches)
- (archaic) A corpse or dead body. [from 9th c.]
- 1983, Poul Anderson, Time Patrolman (Sci-Fi), ISBN 9780812530766:
- She saw him again that eventide, but then he was a reddened lich.
-
- (fantasy, roleplay) A reanimated corpse or undead being, particularly a still-intelligent undead spellcaster.
- 1974, Karl Edward Wagner, ‘Sticks’:
- It was a lich’s face – desiccated flesh tight over its skull.
- 1974, Karl Edward Wagner, ‘Sticks’:
Translations
undead being
Derived terms
Middle English
Etymology
From Old English līċ, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *līg-.
Noun
lich (plural lichs)
- A body.
- 1362, William Langland, Piers Plowman, XI.2:
- A wyf […] Þat lene was of lich and of louh chere.
- 1362, William Langland, Piers Plowman, XI.2: