'T is as like you As cherry is to cherry. --Shak.
Like master, like man. --Old Prov.
He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the
hoar-frost like ashes. --Ps. cxlvii.
16.
Note: To, which formerly often followed like, is now usually
omitted.
2. Equal, or nearly equal; as, fields of like extent.
More clergymen were impoverished by the late war
than ever in the like space before. --Sprat.
3. Having probability; affording probability; probable;
likely.
Usage: [Likely is more used now.] --Shak.
But it is like the jolly world about us will
scoff at the paradox of these practices.
--South.
Many were not easy to be governed, nor like to
conform themselves to strict rules. --Clarendon.
4. Inclined toward; disposed to; as, to feel like taking a
walk.
{Had like} (followed by the infinitive), had nearly; came
little short of.
Had like to have been my utter overthrow. --Sir W.
Raleigh
Ramona had like to have said the literal truth, . .
. but recollected herself in time. --Mrs. H. H.
Jackson.
{Like figures} (Geom.), similar figures.
Note: Like is used as a suffix, converting nouns into
adjectives expressing resemblance to the noun; as,
manlike, like a man; childlike, like a child; godlike,
like a god, etc. Such compounds are readily formed
whenever convenient, and several, as crescentlike,
serpentlike, hairlike, etc., are used in this book,
although, in some cases, not entered in the vocabulary.
Such combinations as bell-like, ball-like, etc., are
hyphened.
Cornwall him liked best, therefore he chose there.
--R. of
Gloucester.
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-favored creature. --Sir
P. Sidney.
2. To be pleased with in a moderate degree; to approve; to
take satisfaction in; to enjoy.
He proceeded from looking to liking, and from liking
to loving. --Sir P.
Sidney.
3. To liken; to compare.[Obs.]
Like me to the peasant boys of France. --Shak.
He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not
look upon his like again. --Shak.
2. A liking; a preference; inclination; -- usually in pl.;
as, we all have likes and dislikes.
He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. --Job
xii. 25.
Note: Like, as here used, is regarded by some grammarians as
a preposition.
2. In a like or similar manner. --Shak.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord
pitieth them that fear him. --Ps. ciii.
13.
3. Likely; probably. ``Like enough it will.'' --Shak.
He may either go or stay, as he best likes. --Locke.
2. To have an appearance or expression; to look; to seem to
be (in a specified condition). [Obs.]
You like well, and bear your years very well.
--Shak.
3. To come near; to avoid with difficulty; to escape
narrowly; as, he liked to have been too late. Cf. Had
like, under {Like}, a. [Colloq.]
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.
--Walpole.
{To like of}, to be pleased with. [Obs.] --Massinger.