kick
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: kĭk
ipa: /kɪk/
ipa: [kʰɪk]
rhymes: -ɪk
Forms: form: kicks
form: kicking
form: kicked
form: kicked
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: kick
form: kick
form: kicked
form: kick
form: kickest
form: kicked
form: kickedst
form: kicks
form: kicketh
form: kicked
form: kick
form: kicked
form: kick
form: kicked
form: kick
form: -
form: kicking
form: kicked
Etymology: From Middle English kyken (“to strike out with the foot”), from Old Norse kikna (“to sink at the knees”) and keikja (“to bend backwards”) (compare Old Norse keikr (“bent backwards, the belly jutting forward”)), from Proto-Germanic *kaikaz (“bent backwards”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kī-, *kij- (“to split, dodge, swerve sidewards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyH- (“to sprout, shoot”). Compare also Dutch kijken (“to look”), Middle Low German kīken (“to look, watch”). See keek.
Senses: examples: text: Did you kick your brother?
text: 1895, George MacDonald, Lilith, Chapter XII: Friends and Foes,
I was cuffed by the women and kicked by the men because I would not swallow it.
text: A punt is made by letting the ball drop from the hands and kicking it just before it touches the ground.
ref: 1905, Fielding H. Yost, chapter 6, in Football for Player and Spectator:
text: Will Henderson, who had on a light overcoat and no overshoes, kicked the heel of his left foot with the toe of the right.
ref: 1919, Sherwood Anderson, “The Teacher: concerning Kate Swift”, in Winesburg, Ohio:
text: Or to put it in the more colourful language of our Prime Minister: "The secret to improving rail transport, in my view, is you need to find the right arse to kick." Unfortunately, since the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in 2005, the DfT has ostensibly been in direct control of railway policy setting, and this has meant that the only arse the government has been able to kick is its own.
ref: 2020 September 9, Jason Chamberlain, “The growing likelihood of a 'different type of railway'”, in Rail, page 45:
glosses: To strike or hit with the foot or other extremity of the leg.
examples: text: He enjoyed the simple pleasure of watching the kickline kick.
text: Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.
ref: [1877], Anna Sewell, “My Early Home”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part I, page 10:
text: 1904, Stratemeyer Syndicate, The Bobbsey Twins, Chapter II: Rope Jumping, and What Followed,
"If you did that, I'd kick," answered Freddie, and began to kick real hard into the air.
glosses: To make a sharp jerking movement of the leg, as to strike something.
examples: text: Kick the ball into the goal.
text: Sometimes he can kick the ball forward along the ground until it is kicked in goal, where he can fall on it for a touchdown.
ref: 1905, Fielding H. Yost, chapter 7, in Football for Player and Spectator:
glosses: To direct to a particular place by a blow with the foot or leg.
examples: text: "He's been mad at me ever since I fired him off'n my payroll. After I kicked him off'n my ranch he run for sheriff, and the night of the election everybody was so drunk they voted for him by mistake, or for a joke, or somethin', and since he's been in office he's been lettin' the sheepmen steal me right out of house and home."
ref: 1936 October, Robert E. Howard, “The Conquerin' Hero of the Humbolts”, in Action Stories:
text: They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.
ref: 1976 February 3, Bill Gates, An Open Letter to Hobbyists:
text: Dial 1-900-Mix-a-Lot and kick them nasty thoughts.
ref: 1992, “Baby Got Back”, in Sir Mix-a-Lot (lyrics), Rick Rubin and Sir Mix-a-Lot (music), Mack Daddy, Def American Recordings:
glosses: To eject summarily.
raw_tags: with "off" or "out"
examples: text: She was kicked from the IRC server for flooding.
glosses: To forcibly remove a participant from an online activity.
examples: text: I still smoke, but they keep telling me to kick the habit.
glosses: To overcome (a bothersome or difficult issue or obstacle); to free oneself of (a problem).
examples: text: He was kicked sideways by the force of the blast.
text: The back of the car kicked out violently, forcing me to steer into the slide and accelerate in order to maintain control.
ref: 2011, Tom Andry, Bob Moore: No Hero:
glosses: To move or push suddenly and violently.
examples: text: Lying on the ground, when fired, it kicked me back a foot. There was no way a person my size was going to be able to do an effective job with this gun.
ref: 2003, Jennifer C. D. Groomes, The Falcon Project, page 174:
text: I asked my sister Jeanette if she wanted to shoot the 12 ga. shotgun. She replied, "does it kick"?
ref: 2006, Daniel D. Scherschel, Maple Grove, page 81:
glosses: To recoil; to push by recoiling.
raw_tags: of a firearm
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: To attack (a piece) in order to force it to move.
examples: text: Contador kicks again to try to rid himself of Rasmussen.
topics: cycling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To accelerate quickly with a few pedal strokes in an effort to break away from other riders.
glosses: To show opposition or resistance.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: To work a press by impact of the foot on a treadle.
examples: text: In the meantime, it is possible for the embedded software to “kick” the watchdog timer, to reset its counter to the original large number.
ref: 1999, Michael Barr, Programming Embedded Systems in C and C++, page 98:
text: From now on the process has to periodically kick the watchdog timer in intervals shorter than the initialization interval.
ref: 2012, Tarek Sobh, Khaled Elleithy, Emerging Trends in Computing, Informatics, Systems Sciences, and Engineering, page 763:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To reset (a watchdog timer).
examples: text: He's still kicking himself for not investing three years ago.
synonyms: beat oneself up
live to regret
glosses: To reproach oneself for making a mistake or missing an opportunity.