horlicks

/ˈhɔːlɪks/

horlicks is the alternative letter-case form of Horlicks.

Noun capitalized: Horlicks

Horlicks (countable and uncountable, plural Horlicks)

(UK) A hot bedtime drink made with malted milk.
- When the theatres turned out, people flocked back for their Horlickses and cocoas. Because of the summer visitors, we were open till one o'clock in the morning.1990, Barbara Hanrahan, A Chelsea Girl, Ulverscroft Large Print Books, →ISBN
- Kathy, drinking Horlicks and laughing about the impossibility of custard (she could not cook – she could not even stir), and obsessive about everything, found out for me that Dylan Thomas had invented a fantasy[…]2016 December 6, Jeanette Winterson, Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days, Grove/Atlantic, Inc., →ISBN
(UK, euphemistic, slang) Bollocks, a mess or balls-up.
- McDonald & Dodds is back, with episode one so deliberately hammy and meta that, technically, it should have been a complete horlicks. In one scene, when they were all hanging on to the balloon ropes, Mr Bean-like, to stop Jason Watkins flying away, it sort of was.2021 March 1, Carol Midgley, “McDonald & Dodds review – cheerful escapism and filth-free distraction”, in The Times
Synonyms:

hash, mess-up, muddle
(UK, euphemistic, slang) Bollocks, nonsense, false statements.
- As sleep patterns come unstuck and more and more people complain of not getting enough shuteye, so businesses have spotted an opportunity. […] And beware any consumer product which claims it will transform your slumber: it’s probably a load of Horlicks.2018 October 8, Hannah Devlin, “Sleep: how much do we really need?”, in The Guardian
- “I don’t condone any abuses of human rights anywhere. But if we’re not condoning human rights abuses anywhere, I wouldn’t even be able to perform in my kitchen.” Which is total Horlicks, clearly, but did at least bless us with this cheering reply: “Robbie, what are you doing in your kitchen?”2022 December 23, Archie Bland, “Friday briefing: The Crown discourse, Elon Musk tweets and 15 more things to leave behind in 2022”, in The Guardian
Synonyms:

absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, apple grease, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls, baloney, banana oil

Verb capitalized: Horlicks

Horlicks (third-person singular simple present Horlickses, present participle Horlicksing, simple past and past participle Horlicksed)

(UK, euphemistic, slang) To make a mess of (something); to bollocks.
- I have seen a priest massacred in charge of a Mass, experienced schoolmasters carbonated in charge of a class and felt hairdressers Horlicksed in charge of hair clippers. / On a more lasting level, it is possible for surprisingly long periods of time to be drunk in charge of a relationship.1993 September 25, Stuart Wolfendale, “Column Eight”, in South China Morning Post
- Mr O'Brien has admitted that he was tempted to pay £100,000 to Mr Lowry, out of his own personal generosity, because he had heard pub talk that Mr Lowry's Streamline Enterprises was "Horlicksed"[—]that's a word the Irish Independent has to use as an "intermediary" because the real word is too rude.2001 June 28, Senan Molony, “Inquiry a training ground for linguistic acrobatics”, in Irish Independent

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Horlicks

Horlicks (plural Horlickses)

A surname.
- “But how can this be, for Mr. Horlicks suffered from such a painful back condition that he could hardly walk?” she informed Hodgekiss. “Not anymore!” said Hodgekiss with a twinkle in his eye.2012 April 11, Tricia Bennett, Polly Brown: A Modern-Day Oliver With a Twist, Charisma Media, →ISBN
- ... causing Mr Horlicks to think, in several worried thought bubbles, that She's not the girl I married. She then goes on to take tea in a café with a wise woman friend. Both Mrs Horlicks and her wise friend are always depicted[…]2017 March 21, Barbara Trapido, Frankie & Stankie, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Horlicks

Horlicks

(plural) plural of Horlick

Synonyms of horlicks

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of horlicks

Noun
plural	horlicks
plural	Horlicks
alternative form	horlicks
Verb
third-person singular present	horlickses
present participle	horlicksing
past participle	horlicksed
past	horlicksed
third-person singular present	Horlickses
present participle	Horlicksing
past participle	Horlicksed
past	Horlicksed
Proper noun
plural	Horlickses

Origin of horlicks

The name of the drink, first sold as "Horlick's Infant and Invalids Food", is derived from the surname of its developers, James (1844–1921) and William Horlick (1846–1936); equivalent to Horlick + -'s (possessive marker). The term later became a euphemism for bollocks (“mess; to make a mess of”).

Variant of Horlick.

Words that rhyme with horlicks

grawlix

Questions about horlicks

What does horlicks mean?: Horlicks means a hot bedtime drink made with malted milk.
What is horlicks the alternative letter-case form of?: Horlicks is the alternative letter-case form of Horlicks.
What part of speech is horlicks?: Horlicks can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce horlicks?: Horlicks is pronounced /ˈhɔːlɪks/.
What is the plural of horlicks?: The plural of horlicks is horlicks.

Words near horlicks in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: horlicks (page history and authors); Horlicks (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-Horlicks.ogg.

Cite this entry: “horlicks.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/horlicks. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.