Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Middle English forms of -ly.
  • noun An assibilated form of like.
  • An obsolete assibilated form of like.
  • Middle English forms of -ly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Like.
  • noun obsolete A dead body; a corpse.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the European goatsucker; -- called also lich owl.
  • noun [Prov. Eng.] 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.
  • noun [Prov Eng.] the wake, or watching, held over a corpse before burial.
  • noun the wall of a churchyard or burying ground.
  • noun [Prov. Eng.] the path by which the dead are carried to the grave.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun fantasy, roleplay A reanimated corpse or undead being.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English līċ, from Proto-Germanic *līkan, from Proto-Indo-European *līg-. Cognate with Dutch lijk, German Leiche, Swedish/Norwegian lik, Danish lig. Compare like, -like, -ly.

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Examples

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  • In modern fantasy fiction, a lich (sometimes spelled liche, cognate to German Leiche "corpse") is a type of undead creature, usually formerly a powerful magician or king, who has used evil rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a perverse form of immortality. Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous (as opposed to the generally more appealing forms of vampires), their bodies desiccated or even completely skeletal. Liches are often depicted as holding power over hordes of lesser undead creatures, using them as their soldiers and servants, and thus are a threat both individually and as leaders of belligerent forces. (Wikipedia)

    May 29, 2008

  • "Is it this grim lich, which is writhing in its pit, lifting its lid with whitish limbs, rising, vivific, with ill will in its mind, victimizing kids timid with fright?"

    Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 54

    May 21, 2010