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KICK.
against or at, to object strongly to, rebel against,
kick the wind or clouds, to be hanged (slang}. To
kick the tucket, to die : (slang]
see SOCKET sb?
To kick one's heels : see HEEL rf.l 17.
1500 SHAKS. Com. Err. HI. i. 17, 1 should kicke being kickt,
gun kicked my shoulder, and has made it all black.
6. With adv. or prep, (see also : II.) To impel,
drive, or move, by or as by kicking. To kick
down the ladder : see LADDER. To kick up one's
heels: see HEEL sb.'1 23.
1598 FLORIO, Fare iI fane, to dye, to kick vp ones heeles.
1604 [See HEEL sb. 1 23]. a 1616 FLETCHER Nice Valour \.
Wks. (Rtldg.) 456/1 If he were not kick'd to th' church o'
th' wedding day, I'll never come at court. 1711 ADDISON
Spect. No. 57 F 3 [She] threatens to kick him out of the
House. 1749 FIELDING Tom Jones\. xiii. When once you
are got up, to kick the stool from under you. 1775 J.
TRUMBULL McFingal I. 96 Some muskets .. though well
aim'd..Bear wide and kick their owners over. 1841 LANE
Arab. Nts. 1.98 The 'Efreet then kicked the bottle into the
sea. 1871 L. STEPHEN Playgr. Europe iii. (1894) 86 Every
little bit of snow that we kicked aside started a young
avalanche on its own account. 1886 STEVENSON Treasure
1st. iv. xviii, Ball after ball flew over or fell short, or kicked
up the sand in the enclosure.
b. To drive forcibly and contemptuously to
;
drive or force (out of, into, etc.). To kick down-
stairs, to turn out, eject unceremoniously or ignominiously
; hence, jocularly, to be kicked upstairs,
to be removed from the scene of action by promotion
to an ostensibly higher post.
1678 MARVELL Groivth Popery Wks. 1776 I. 643 In this
manner they [the Pailiament]werekicktfrom adjournment to
adjournment. 1685 WOOD Life 27 Feb. (O.H.S.) III. 133
'
Musae repifdiatae, Muses kickt downe staires '. c 17*8
EARL OF AILESRURY Mem. (1890) 640 Forgetting, like good
Christians.. their kicking us out of the pepper trade in the
Indies. 1809 J. QUINCY Life 19 Jan. 17^ To use a strong
but common expression, it [the majority in Congress] could
not be kicked into such a declaration [of war] by either nation.
x8ai CHOKER Diary 31 May in C. Papers (iSB^l.vil. 186 Lord
Melville informs me that he is about to be kicked upstairs
(his expression) to be Secretary of State for the Home
Department, 1834 J. HALLEYIU Life (1842)21 The Faculty.,
kicked us out of college.
8. To accomplish, make, or do, by kicking.
a. Football. To win (a goal) by a kick. b. To
force or make (one's way) by kicking. Also^-.
1857 HUGHES Tom Brown i. v, It is all Lombard-street to
a China orange that the School-house kick a goal. 1891
Times 15 Oct. 5/3 From this try Shorland easily kicked
a goal. 1893 R. KIPLING Many Invent. 156 The Rathmines
kicked her way northward through the warm water.
II. With adverbs, in special senses (see also 5).
688
7. Kick off.
a. trans. To throw off (shoes) by kicking or
jerking the foot. (So kick on.)
1840 DICKENS Old C. Shop xlix, He. .kicked offhis shoes,
and groped his way upstairs. 1890 G. GISSING The
Emancipated III. n. xvii. 289 He kicked off his boots,
kicked on his slippers.
b. Football, intr. To give the first kick.
1857 HUGHES Tom Brown l. v, The School are going to
kick off. 1880 Daily Tel. 20 Dec., The Southern captain
kicked off with the wind against him.
8. Kick out.
a. trans. To expel or turn out with a kick, or in
1801 WOLCOTT (P. Pindar) Odes to Ins fr Outs vi. Wks.
1812 IV. 359 The tumult on that kick-out day Was mob-like
at a house on fire. 1828 MOIR Mansie Wauch v, Fleeing
down the street, with the kickba'at their noses. 1854 K. H.
CHAPIN Humanity in the City vii. 200 They are running
about at kick-ball and cricket. 1862 THACKERAY Philip
I. x. 172 Phil, for his part, adopted towards his cousin
a kick-me-down-stairs manner. 1877 Day of my Life at
Eton 07 There's kick-about going on in the passage. 1889
Standard 23 Dec., Following the kick-out, Christopherson
got possession and narrowly missed dropping a goal. 1893
STEVENSON Catriona viii. 94, I will be a kick-ball between
you and the Duke no longer. 1899 E. PHILLPOTTS Human
Boy 9 The half hour '
kick-about '
in the playground.
Kick (kik), v. 2 slang. [Possibly
a transferred
use of prec.] a. intr. To make a demand or
request for money, work, etc. b. trans. To appeal
to, dun (a person)y0rsomething; to obtain (something)
by asking.
1791 GALLOWAY Poems 31 (E. D. D.), I kik'd a saxpence
frae my master. 1819 Sporting Aftig. XXIII. 293 They do
not like two coachmen kicking in fifty miles. 1858 A.
MAYHEW Paved with Gold 254 (Farmer) Ned Purchase
suggested that they might as well try and kick him for some
coppers. Mod. Sc. (tailors' slang) He cam into the shop
yesterday to kick the cork [ = master] for a job.
Kickable (ki-kab'l), a.
[f. KICK .i -i- -ABLE.]
That may be kicked.
1647 WARD Simp. Cobler (1843) 26 Fitter to be kickt, if
shee were of a kickable substance. 1876 GEO. ELIOT Dan.
Der. n. xii, He was not unconscious of being held kickable.
Kickee (kik* ). [-EE !.] One who is kicked.
1833 Examiner 148/1 One man kicked > another, and after-
wards disclaimed personality. ..The kickee..was content
with the explanation. 1864 Daily Tel. 21 Dec. 4/6 It was
. . the kicker not the kickee who was entitled to the sympathy
of the public.
Kicker (ki-ksi), sb.
[f. KICK i*.i + -ER i.]
1. One that kicks ; spec, a horse or other animal
given to kicking.
1573-80 BARET AIv. K 45 A kicker or winser, calcitro.
1611 BEAUM. & FL. King ft No King\\. iii, The boy., being
thorowly kick'd, laughs at the kicker. 1660 SANDERSON
Serm. II. 411 The Persecutors . . kick against the . . pricks
which pierce into the heels of the kicker. 1884 St. James's
Gas. 10 Sept. 4/2 The camel, .is a powerful kicker.
KICKSEY-WINSEY.
b. fig. One who protests, objects, or rebels ;
one who breaks away from his party. Chiefly U.S.
1888 BRYCE Amer. Comnrw. II. in. Ixiii. 459 He who takes
his own course is a Kicker or Bolter. 1893 Harper's Mag.
Apr. 709/2 The pioneer is radical, impatient of dogmas, and
a kicker '
by instinct.
2. A cricket-ball that rises more than usual in
ofSg7 .63 SANDERSON Serm. (.68.) II. 8 Our proposals
re suspectea; our counsels .. scorned and kickt at 1847
TENNYSON Princ. iv. 393 A rampant heresy, such as..
Would make all women kick against their Lords. 1871
FREEMAN Hist. Ess. Ser. n. iii. .16 Human nature craves for
something like religion, and it does not always kick ata little
superstition. 1887 BESANT The Worldwent i, He was compelled
to taste the medicines, and his stomach kicked thereat.
8. trans/, a. Of firearms : To recoil when fired.
837 DICKENS flCRll*. XIX, 1 nau no lucu mcsc anmn
fire-arms kicked so. 1858 GREENER Gunnery 322 Dirty guns
..kick violently, simply from the greater friction.
b. Cricket. Of the : ground To cause a ball to
rebound in a more neatly vertical direction than
usual. (Cf. 9 c.)
1881 Standard 29 Aug. 3/2 The rain had made the wicket
'
kick '
a good deal. 1899 Westm. Gat. 21 July 5 The turf
..played. .without the slightest trace of a desire to 'kick .
4. trans. To strike (anything)
with the foot. To
and being at that passe, You would keepe from my heeles.
1598 FLORIO 96/1 Dar de' calci a Rouaio, to be hang'd, to
kicke the winde. 1711 STEELE Sped. No. 2 r i Sir Roger.,
had kick'd Bully Dawson in a Coffee-house. 1711 ADDISON
Spect. No. 112 T4 An idle Fellow, and at that Time was
kicking his Heels for his Diversion. 1787 'G. GAMBADO'
Acad. Horsemen 39 By mounting thus, you avoid all danger
of being kicked, or bit. 1811 Lex. Sal. s.v., To kick the
clouds before the hotel door, i.e. to be hanged. 1842
MACAULAV Ess., Fredk. Gt. (1858) I. 528 He reviled his
Chancellor. He kicked the shins of his Judges. 1890 G.
ALLEN Tents ofShem x, Sir Arthur.. will do the right thing
in the end before he kicks the bucket.
b. To work (a printing-press) with the foot
(Cent. Diet.-}.
c. U. S. slang. To dismiss, discharge (cf. KICK
rf.l i e) ; to reject (a suitor).
'
1860 BARTLETT Diet. Amer. s. v., Miss A has kicked the
Hon Mr. B, and sent him off with a flea in his ear.' (Confined
to the South.) 1895 Outing (U. S.) XXVII. 74/2 Some
years ago, when a Suffolk gal kicked me.
d. transf. Of things : an ignominious fashion.
1697 DRVDEN yirg. Past. ix. 8 Kick'd out, we set the best
face on't we cou'd. 1794 LD. SHEFFIELD in Ld. Auckland's
Corr. (1862) III. 168 You would be all kicked out before
24)
d
isy p
b. Football, intr. To re-start the game by
kicking
To strike (anything) with
a violent impact. Of a : gun To strike in the
recoil. To kick the beam : see BEAM rf.l 6 b.
1667 MILTON P. L. iv. 1004 The latter [weight] quick up
flew, and kickt the beam. 1748 SMOLLETT Rod. Rand, ix,
A straw thrown into either scale would make the Balance
kick the Beam. 1875 JowF.TT/Yafoled.z) III. 101 Richesare
thrown into the scale, and virtue kicks the beam. Mod. The
the ball towards the opposite goal from the
25-yard line, after the defending side has touched
down or the attacking side has failed to make a
goal from a try.
In the old Rugby school-game (to which quot. 1857 refers)
the term was differently used. If one side touched down
the ball behind the goal-line of the other, a player of
the attacking side had the right to ' kick out '
from the
goal-line, giving to his own side (under certain conditions)
the chance of a kick at goal.
1857 HUGHES Tom Brown i. v, He will not kick out till
they are all in goal.
c. intr. To die. slang.
1898 United Service Mag. Mar. 649 ' Here comes the
parson', 1 once heard a man say; 'he thinks I'm going to
kick out, but I'm not '.
9. Kick up.
a. trans. To raise (dust, etc.) by or as by kicking
; hence, to make (any disturbance or nuisance).
1756 FOOTE Eng. fr. Paris ll. i, You must know he intended
to kick up a riot tonight, at the play-house. 1786
BURNS Ordination iii, This day the Kitk kicks up a stoure.
c 1800 RHODES Bomb. Fur. i. (1830) n Begone, brave army,
and don't kick up a row. 1801 in Anderson Cuiitbld. Ball.
20 Robbie he kick'd up a dust in a crack. 1844 W. H.
MAXWELL Sports $ Adv. Scot. ix. (1855) 88 The wind..
had . . kicked up more sea than was . . agreeable. 1857
HUGHES Tom Brown 11. iii, He had been kicking up horrid
stinks for some time in his study. 1886 J. K. JEROME
Idle Thoughts (1889) i They kick up such a shindy.
fb. intr. To die (cf. I b). Obs.
a 1658 CLEVELAND Poems, Obscguies 82 The rest that
kick'd up were the smaller Fry. 1813 PICKEN Poems I. 46
(E. D. D.) Soud ye kick up an' slip awa, They'll scrimply
find anither As guid.
c. Cricket, intr. Of a ball : To rebound more
or less vertically. (Cf. 3 b.)
1895 Daily News 29 May 8/5 A knock on the hand from
a ball, .which kicked up a little.
III. 10. Phrases used as sbs. or adjs. ; spec.
kick-about, an irregular form of football kick-
;
ball, Sc., a football, or the game of football rebounding
;
kick-out (see 8 b). See also KICK-OFF, KICK-UP.
from the pitch.
1894 N. GALE Cricket Songs, Ode to W. G., Nothing
comes amiss, Kicker, shooter, yorker.
'
3. Mining. A liberating catch made in the
form of a bell crank lever rocking on a horizontal
axis' (Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining 1883).
4. Mining. See quots. [peril, a distinct word.]
1747 HOOSON Miner's Diet. Lj, Kicker [is] a Branch or
small Piece of Wholes, left for the support of some Rider
or large Stone, or else some Lid. 1881 RAYMOND Mining
Glass., Kicker, ground left in first cutting a vein, for support
of its sides.
f Kickie-wickie. Obs. rare- 1
, [app. a humorous
formation : cf. KICKSEY-WINSEY. Mod. editors
usually adopt kicksy-wicksy, after the later folios.]
A jocular or ludicrous term for a wife.
1601 SHAKS. Alts Well 11. iii. 207 He weares his honor in
a boxe vnseene That hugges his kickie wickie \f-\th folios
kicksie-wicksie] heare at home.
Kicking (ki'kirj), vbl. sb. [f. KICK v.'1 + -ING *.]
The action of the vb. KICK, in various senses.
I55a HULOET, Kyckynge, calcitratio. 1612 SIR H. NEVILL
in Bucclcuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 112 Much
kicking there is both against you and me severally, but
more against the coupling of us together. 1842 S. LOVER
Handy Andy iii, Her sobs, and. .stampings and kickings,
amazed young gallipot. 1869 LD. CLERMONT Fortescue-
Family Hist. 11. ix. 138 Having missed every shot . . from
the excessive 'kicking '
of the gun.
b. attrib'., as kicking -distance, room, etc. :
kicking -muscle, the muscle which raises the
femur in kicking; kicking-strap, a strap adjusted
to prevent a horse from kicking ; alsoyf^.
1838 J. L. STEPHENS TVvra. Greece, etc. 40/1 I . . measured off
;
space enough to fit my body, allowing turning and kicking
room. 1861 HUGHES Tom Brown at Ox/, vi. (1889) 56
They had. .his belly-band buckled across his back, and no
kicking strap. 1866 W. B. HAWKINS Artistic A nat. Horse
(ed. 3) 72 Prominent on the front and outer part of the
haunch is the glvtxus mcdius. ..It has been called the
'
kicking muscle '. 1807 Century Mag. 562/2 Not to allow
one's horse to approach within kicking-distance of another.
Ki'Cking, ///. [-ING 2 .] That kicks, in senses
of the verb also in ;
colloq. phr. alive and kicking.
1551 HULOET, horse, c 1610
Kyckynge Women Saints 25
The wanton or kicking flesh of yong maydes, she woujd
represse with often or double fastings. 1797 BURKE Regie.
Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 272 The Turk, .gave him two or three
lusty kicks. . .Our traveller, .begged the kicking Mussulman
4
to accept his perfect assurances of high consideration '.
1860 Grandmothers Money I. 124 So 1 started off to Stamford
Street, just to shew that I was alive and kicking.
1888 Daily News 5 July 5/2 He says that good batsmen
to-day cannot play on a rough kicking wicket. 1890 Boston
(Mass.) Jrnl. 20 Feb. 2/2 A kicking Democratic Senator in
Ohio threatens to upset the.. apportionment scheme.
Ki'ckisli, a. Obs. exc. dial. KICK z;.i +
[f.
-ISH.] Given to kicking ; irritable.
1589 Pappe vi. Hatchet If he ride me.let the foole sit
p
fast, for my wit is verie kickish. i6 DEKKSR & MAS-
SINGER Virg. Mart. n. i But that is a kickish jade, fellow
Kick-Off kik^-f). [See KICK K.I 7 b.] The
first kick to the ball in a football match.
1857 HUGHES Tom Brown I. v, Hasn't old Brook won the
toss . . and got choice of goals and kick-off ? 1895 WELLDON
G. Eversley's Friendsli. 161 The match was hotly con-
tested from the kick-off to the finish.
fig. 1875 Punch 27 Feb. 88/2 Sir H. James asked the
Attorney.General three questions, by way of kick-off.
variant of KECKSY.
Kicksey,
Kickseys, kicksies (ki-ksiz), sb. pi. slang.
Also -es. [Cf. KICK sb2 2.] Breeches ; trousers.
1811 J. H. VAUX Flash Diet., Kickseys, breeches; .. a
. . purse got from the . . kickseys. To turn out a man's kickseys
means to pick the pockets of them. 1834 H. AINSWORTH
Kookwood in. v. (1878) 189 Jist twig his swell kickseys and
pipes. 1851 M AYHEW Land. Labour I. 52 A pair of Kerseymere
Kicksies, any colour, built very slap up.
f Kicksey-winsey, sb,, a. and adv. Obs.
Also kicksie winsie, kicksy wincy, kioksee
winsee, //. kickshiwinshes. [app. a whimsical
formation, suggested by kick and wince ; but the
recorded senses seem to connect it with kickshaw s.]
A. sb. A fantastic device ; a whinf or erratic
.- ,
giddy ear-wig brains. 1619 J. TAYLOR (Water P.) title,
The Scourge of Basenesse; a Kicksey Winsie or a Lerry
come Twang. 1635 BROME Sparagus Card. in. xi Wife.
[I long to be] here, and there, and here againe ; and all at
once. Brit. Hey kicksie winsie.
B. adj. Fantastic, whimsical, erratic.
1:1650 1 CLEVELAND Obseq. "}. Prideaux in R. Fletcher
Efigr., etc. (1656) 168 Perhaps an Ignis fatuus now and
then Starts up in holes, stincks and goes out agen. Such
Kicksee winsee flames shew but how dear Thy great Light s
resurrection would be here, a 1651 BROME Covent Card.
l. i. Wks. 1873 II. 17 This kicksy wincy Giddibram will
spoil all.
I'le no more Italian tricks.