Take A Licking And Keep On Ticking Meaning

(idiomatic) To be tough; to have endurance; to have the capacity to absorb stress or damage, but still be able to function.

Example: 2008, George R. R. Martin et al., Inside Straight, p. 124:
  How am I supposed to knock these other guys off. My wild card is nothing but defensive. I take a licking and keep on ticking. Big whoop.
2006, Anthony Mancuso, LLC Or Corporation?: How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business, p. 47:
  Insurance allows your business to take a licking and keep on ticking.
1997, Ira Livingston, Arrow of Chaos: Romanticism and Postmodernity, section 2.3:
  The persistence-through-change of Romantic ideologemes — the way they've taken a licking and kept on ticking — is explicable by their extension and saturation — their participation — in ongoing formations of capitalism and disciplinarity.
1994, Pinckney Benedict, Dogs of God, p. 204:
  "That," the first said, "was one hardy son of a bitch. Took a licking but went on ticking. I heard he made it all the way down off the mountain before he snuffed it."
1986, David Morrell, The Fraternity of the Stone, p. 177:
  But the car amazed him. It kept going. And that too struck him as funny. Takes a licking, keeps on ticking.