Library / English Dictionary

KICK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of delivering a blow with the foot

Example:

the team's kicking was excellent

Synonyms:

boot; kick; kicking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("kick" is a kind of...):

blow (a powerful stroke with the fist or a weapon)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "kick"):

goal-kick ((association football) a kick by the defending side after the attacking side sends the ball over the goal-line)

goal-kick ((rugby) an attempt to kick a goal)

punt; punting ((football) a kick in which the football is dropped from the hands and kicked before it touches the ground)

place-kicking; place kick ((sports) a kick in which the ball is placed on the ground before kicking)

dropkick ((football) kicking (as for a field goal) in which the football is dropped and kicked as it touches the ground)

Derivation:

kick (strike with the foot)

kick (drive or propel with the foot)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A rhythmic thrusting movement of the legs as in swimming or calisthenics

Example:

the swimmer's kicking left a wake behind him

Synonyms:

kick; kicking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("kick" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "kick"):

swimming kick (a movement of the legs in swimming)

Derivation:

kick (thrash about or strike out with the feet)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The sudden stimulation provided by strong drink (or certain drugs)

Example:

a sidecar is a smooth drink but it has a powerful kick

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("kick" is a kind of...):

input; stimulant; stimulation; stimulus (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Informal terms for objecting

Example:

I have a gripe about the service here

Synonyms:

beef; bitch; gripe; kick; squawk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("kick" is a kind of...):

objection (the speech act of objecting)

Derivation:

kick (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The backward jerk of a gun when it is fired

Synonyms:

kick; recoil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("kick" is a kind of...):

motion; movement (a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something)

Derivation:

kick (spring back, as from a forceful thrust)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The swift release of a store of affective force

Example:

he does it for kicks

Synonyms:

bang; boot; charge; flush; kick; rush; thrill

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("kick" is a kind of...):

excitement; exhilaration (the feeling of lively and cheerful joy)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness

Example:

She has a lot to kick about

Synonyms:

complain; kick; kvetch; plain; quetch; sound off

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kick"):

bleat (talk whiningly)

report (complain about; make a charge against)

bemoan; bewail; deplore; lament (regret strongly)

inveigh; rail (complain bitterly)

beef; bellyache; bitch; crab; gripe; grouse; holler; squawk (complain)

repine (express discontent)

protest (utter words of protest)

grouch; grumble; scold (show one's unhappiness or critical attitude)

croak; gnarl; grumble; murmur; mutter (make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath)

grizzle; whine; yammer; yawp (complain whiningly)

backbite; bitch (say mean things)

hen-peck; nag; peck (bother persistently with trivial complaints)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

kick (informal terms for objecting)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a goal

Example:

He kicked the extra point after touchdown

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "kick" is one way to...):

hit; rack up; score; tally (gain points in a game)

Domain category:

football; football game (any of various games played with a ball (round or oval) in which two teams try to kick or carry or propel the ball into each other's goal)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kick"):

place-kick (score (a goal) by making a place kick)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Stop consuming

Example:

give up alcohol

Synonyms:

give up; kick

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "kick" is one way to...):

dispense with; forego; foreswear; forgo; relinquish; waive (do without or cease to hold or adhere to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Sense 4

Meaning:

Strike with the foot

Example:

Kick the door down

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "kick" is one way to...):

hit (deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kick"):

scuff (poke at with the foot or toe)

boot (kick; give a boot to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to kick the prisoners

Also:

kick up (cause to rise by kicking)

kick out (remove from a position or office)

kick in; kick down (open violently)

Derivation:

kick; kicking (the act of delivering a blow with the foot)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Spring back, as from a forceful thrust

Example:

The gun kicked back into my shoulder

Synonyms:

kick; kick back; recoil

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "kick" is one way to...):

bounce; bound; rebound; recoil; resile; reverberate; ricochet; spring; take a hop (spring back; spring away from an impact)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

kick (the backward jerk of a gun when it is fired)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Drive or propel with the foot

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "kick" is one way to...):

impel; propel (cause to move forward with force)

"Kick" entails doing...:

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kick"):

drop-kick; dropkick (drop and kick (a ball) as it touches the ground, as for a field goal)

place-kick (kick (a ball) from a stationary position, in football)

drop-kick; dropkick (make the point after a touchdown with a dropkick)

punt (kick the ball)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

kick (the act of delivering a blow with the foot)

kicker (a player who kicks the football)

kicking (the act of delivering a blow with the foot)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Thrash about or strike out with the feet

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "kick" is one way to...):

strike out (make a motion as with one's fist or foot towards an object or away from one's body)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

kick (a rhythmic thrusting movement of the legs as in swimming or calisthenics)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Kick a leg up

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "kick" is one way to...):

dance; trip the light fantastic; trip the light fantastic toe (move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

And because planets require at least 10 million years to form, and probably longer to get themselves kicked out of a star system, WISEA 1147 is likely a brown dwarf.

(Lone Planetary-Mass Object Found in Family of Stars, NASA)

I see not far away a place for camp. I kick them.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

There—very good school-room chairs, not made for a theatre, I dare say; much more fitted for little girls to sit and kick their feet against when they are learning a lesson.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

So I broke away early this mornin', gave my guard a kick in the tummy that laid him out, and sprinted for the camp.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Of course the children tyrannized over her, and ruled the house as soon as they found out that kicking and squalling brought them whatever they wanted.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"We suspect that Naiad was kicked into its tilted orbit by an earlier interaction with one of Neptune's other inner moons," Brozovic said.

(NASA Finds Neptune Moons Locked in 'Dance of Avoidance', NASA)

So far so good, but it next occurred to my recollection that a taut hawser, suddenly cut, is a thing as dangerous as a kicking horse.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds, and clawed the air with both his hands.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And Minnie had made a practice of kicking his heels, whenever they crossed from one side of the street to the other, to remind him to get over on the outside.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

As they drew near, the cow suddenly gave a kick and kicked over the stool, the pail, and even the milkmaid herself, and all fell on the china ground with a great clatter.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)