Part 677

Johnson.

2. A friar authorized to receive confessions and grant absolution in all places, independently of the local clergy. [Obs.] Chaucer.

3. One who acts without restraint, or takes a liberty, as if having a license therefor. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

4. On the continent of Europe, a university degree intermediate between that of bachelor and that of doctor.

Li*cen"ti*ate (-sh*t), v. t. To give a license to. [Obs.] L'Estrange.

Li*cen"tious (-shs), a. [L. licentiosus: cf. F. licencieux. See License.] 1. Characterized by license; passing due bounds; excessive; abusive of freedom; wantonly offensive; as, a licentious press.

A wit that no licentious pertness knows.

Savage.

2. Unrestrained by law or morality; lawless; immoral; dissolute; lewd; lascivious; as, a licentious man; a licentious life. "Licentious wickedness." Shak.

Syn. -- Unrestrained; uncurbed; uncontrolled; unruly; riotous; ungovernable; wanton; profligate; dissolute; lax; loose; sensual; impure; unchaste; lascivious; immoral.

-- Li*cen"tious*ly, adv. -- Li*cen"tious*ness, n.

Lich (lk), a. Like. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser.

Lich (lch), n. [AS. lc body. See Like, a.] A dead body; a corpse. [Obs.]

Lich fowl (Zoöl.), 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.]

Li"chen (l"kn; 277), n. [L., fr. Gr. leichh`n.] 1. (Bot.) One of a class of cellular, flowerless plants, (technically called Lichenes), having no distinction of leaf and stem, usually of scaly, expanded, frond-like forms, but sometimes erect or pendulous and variously branched. They derive their nourishment from the air, and generate by means of spores. The species are very widely distributed, and form irregular spots or patches, usually of a greenish or yellowish color, upon rocks, trees, and various bodies, to which they adhere with great tenacity. They are often improperly called rock moss or tree moss.

A favorite modern theory of lichens (called after its inventor the Schwendener hypothesis), is that they are not autonomous plants, but that they consist of ascigerous fungi, parasitic on algæ. Each lichen is composed of white filaments and green, or greenish, rounded cells, and it is argued that the two are of different nature, the one living at the expense of the other. See Hyphæ, and Gonidia.

2. (Med.) A name given to several varieties of skin disease, esp. to one characterized by the eruption of small, conical or flat, reddish pimples, which, if unchecked, tend to spread and produce great and even fatal exhaustion.

Li"chened (l"knd), a. Belonging to, or covered with, lichens. Tennyson.

Li*chen"ic (l*kn"k), a. Of, pertaining to, or obtained from, lichens.

Lichenic acid. (a) An organic acid, C14H24O3, obtained from Iceland moss. (b) An old name of fumaric acid.

Li*chen"i*form (-*fôrm), a. Having the form of a lichen.

Li"chen*in (l"kn*n), n. (Chem.) A substance isomeric with starch, extracted from several species of moss and lichen, esp. from Iceland moss.

{ Li`chen*o*graph"ic (l`kn**grf"k), Li`chen*o*graph"ic*al (-*kal), } a. [Cf. F. lichénographique.] Of or pertaining to lichenography.

Li`chen*og"ra*phist (-g"r*fst), n. One who describes lichens; one versed in lichenography.

Li`chen*og"ra*phy (l`kn*g"r*f), n. [Lichen + -graphy: cf. F. lichénographie.] A description of lichens; the science which illustrates the natural history of lichens.

Li`chen*ol"o*gist (-l"*jst), n. One versed in lichenology.

Li`chen*ol"o*gy (-j), n. [Lichen + -logy.] The science which treats of lichens.

Li"chen*ous (l"kn*s), a. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, lichens; abounding in lichens; covered with lichens. G. Eliot.